Ichigo and the Fifth Holy Grail War
by BloodRavenFan
Summary: In an AU where Ichigo did not lose his powers after Aizen's defeat, Soul Society intervenes in the Fifth Holy Grail War. As an accidental master, Ichigo must now strive to uphold his responsibility as Rider's Master while fulfilling his duty to the Soul Society. ON HIATUS.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, names, and any copyrighted material used in this work. This is a fanfic, period. Everything belongs to their respective owners. Comments and constructive criticism are all very much appreciated.

I'd also like acknowledge Nameless Flame Wielder and his fanfic FateBlack Reflection, seeing as reading that inspired me to begin this one.

Set shortly after Aizen's defeat, but in an AU where Ichigo didn't lose his powers as a result of using the Final Getsuga Tensho. Also, the Fullbring and Quincy Blood War Arcs don't factor in here as well. Furthermore, another element of this AU fanfic is that the Soul Society only oversees the spiritual balance of the Japanese part of the world (I've never really liked the canon where Soul Society oversees all matters regarding the afterlife all over the world); only the Quincy in Japan were wiped out, and only because they threatened to de-stabilize Japan's spiritual balance.

Chapter 1: The Shinigami and the Gorgon

_The Soul Society, the Seireitei, First Division Barracks, Captains Assembly Hall_

Genryuusai Shigekuni Yamamoto, Captain of the First Division and Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13 regarded the twelve captains standing before him in two straight lines. "I have called you all here today regarding a serious matter." He began. "As you may recall ten years ago, half of the city of Fuyuki was destroyed in a massive firestorm. Officially, the cause of the matter remains unknown, however, the truth must now be revealed. Kurotsuchi!" the Captain-Commander called to the slightly insane but brilliant Captain of the Twelfth Division.

Stepping forward, Captain Kurotsuchi pulled out a remote and pushed a button. In response, a holographic projection of Fuyuki City appeared in the middle of the assembled captains. "Following the destruction of the city ten years ago, we at the Shinigami Research and Development Institute began an investigation of the matter at once. From the beginning, we immediately noticed something unusual regarding the matter, and that is the fact that Hollows don't appear to be drawn to the souls in the city." This caused a stir among the other captains.

"How is that even possible?" asked Byakuya Kuchiki, Captain of the Sixth Division.

Captain Kurotsuchi continued, ignoring the question as it would soon be answered. "Analysis of this phenomenon revealed that Fuyuki City is actually built on a massive Thamauturgical construct. And this same Thamauturgical construct actually repels Hollows from the city. Analysis of the city's history only confirmed our hypothesis: Fuyuki City was designed to mask the performance of a Thamauturgical ritual called the 'Holy Grail War'."

"Magecraft…" whispered Sajin Komamura, Captain of the Seventh Division. All the captains in the room were silent for a moment, as they struggled to process this piece of information. They knew of the existence of mages of course; the Quincy were descended from mages themselves, although they didn't answer to the virtually all-controlling authority of the Mages Association or depend on clan-controlled magic circuits. When the first mages appeared/arrived on Japan centuries ago, the Soul Society had seen fit to let them be so long as they didn't disrupt the spiritual balance of the land. Most mages were focused on manipulating the physical world anyway, so there was little trouble there; the exceptions were usually dealt with by the mages themselves on their own, and those that were not were rather quickly and efficiently eliminated by the Onmitsukido.

Nodding, Captain Yamamoto said "Continue."

"Apparently, the firestorm from ten years ago was caused by a catastrophic failure in the Thamauturgical ceremony. Attempts to dismantle the system have failed, and by studying the history of Fuyuki City, we have uncovered similar patterns of spiritual activity going back three times over the past one hundred and fifty years. We have also uncovered the purpose behind the ritual: the 'Holy Grail' that is the ultimate objective of this ritual appears to have limited omnipotence, and can be used to grant the victor of this war a single wish of any kind." Captain Kurotsuchi finished, turning off the display.

"And so, why are we having a meeting about this now?" asked Shunsui Kyouraku, Captain of the Eighth Division.

Captain Kurotsuchi turned to look at Captain Kyouraku before replying "Isn't it obvious? The same pattern of spiritual activity is occurring again, albeit forty years ahead of schedule. In other words, the Fifth Holy Grail War is about to begin."

"This is a critical situation; we cannot allow the disaster from ten years ago to be repeated. The Central 46 has decreed that the Soul Society is to intervene in this matter and to destroy the Holy Grail. I have already requested Substitute Shinigami Ichigo Kurosaki to proceed to Fuyuki City immediately. He is to ensure that this Fifth Holy Grail War is not to proceed in a similar fashion to the previous war, and to destroy the Holy Grail the moment it appears. Regardless, I am ordering the formation of a special force to go and provide assistance in the near future." Pausing, Captain Yamamoto turned to Toshiro Hitsugaya, Captain of the Tenth Division. "Captain Hitsugaya, I am placing you in charge. Is that understood?"

With a sigh, Captain Hitsugaya nodded and replied "I understand. I'll start assembling my force immediately." "_Of course; who else would be chosen to lead the special force but me? Simply because I led the last one…_" he sullenly thought to himself.

Nodding, Captain Yamamoto ended the meeting "If there are no further concerns, dismissed!"

"Sir!" the assembled captains acknowledged the dismissal before filing out of the hall.

* * *

Ichigo Kurosaki stood on a skyscraper in his Shinigami form and looked out over Fuyuki City with a certain degree of irritation, remembering his conversation with Kisuke Urahara that led to his coming here.

_Begin Flashback_

"_What do you mean I have to go to Fuyuki City and handle this 'Holy Grail War' business? I'm Karakura's Substitute Shinigami, aren't I?" an irate Ichigo complained to Urahara, the two of them seated at the dining table in Urahara's living room at the Urahara Shop._

"_While it's true that you are supposed to be Karakura's Substitute Shinigami, you are also the only Captain-class Shinigami capable of responding to this issue on such short notice. The regular Shinigami assigned to Karakura will just have to handle matters here on his own while you're gone." Urahara said, trying to reason with the irritated teenager. Truth be told though, Urahara understood Ichigo's irritation; it had only been a month since he had awakened from the coma brought about by the use of the Final Getsuga Tensho, and while his powers had surprisingly enough not disappeared but had recovered almost immediately (Urahara personally believed it was all thanks to Ichigo's inner Hollow pulling off some sort of stunt in Ichigo's inner world so as to allow Ichigo to retain his powers), Ichigo himself had wanted to return to a normal life. Well, as normal a life as a Substitute Shinigami could have anyway._

"_Give me a break." Ichigo responded, crossing his arms and sighing wearily. "I have no interest in this 'Holy Grail' or whatever it is, and if they're fighting over it, then shouldn't the Soul Society have enough time to assemble or dispatch their own captains?" Ichigo continued, still unhappy about the situation but apparently not enough to lose rationality._

"_And what if the war ends before they can?" Urahara countered. "The Holy Grail is something that has the power to grant a single wish of any kind to the victor of this war…can you imagine the damage that would be caused if someone like Aizen managed to get his hands on that thing?"_

_Ichigo's eyes widened, and then narrowed at the thought. Finally, he sighed and gave in "Alright, alright, I understand. I'll do it, so what do I need to do?_

_Hiding his smile behind a paper fan, Urahara replied "Firstly, you need to ensure the safety of the souls living in the city. Second is to gather as much information on this war as possible. And finally, when the war ends…destroy the Holy Grail." Urahara paused for a moment, and when Ichigo didn't say anything during the pause, he continued. "I've already made arrangements on the Soul Society's behalf for your accommodations." Reaching into a pocket, he handed several slips of paper to Ichigo. "You have an apartment at this location, and a bank account that the Soul Society will use to provide necessary funds for this mission, as well as to hold your salary in the future." Ichigo started at the last comment._

"_I get paid for being a Substitute Shinigami?" he asked, somewhat surprised at the revelation._

_Closing his paper fan, Urahara nodded and said in a jovial fashion "Of course you do, the Soul Society isn't a bunch of cheap free-loaders you know! Naturally, the pay is considerably less than what is due to a regular Shinigami, but converted to the currency here in the living world, it is significantly more than what most part-time jobs offer these days."_

"_Is that so now?" Ichigo said, typically not caring about material things like that. Then a concerned expression came over his face a thought came to him. "What about school?" he asked._

_Hiding himself behind his paper fan, Urahara replied "You'll be temporarily transferred to Homurahara Gakuen, a private school in the area. The school location and your assigned class are also located in the information I gave you. Oh, and one more thing. Apparently Captain Hitsugaya is currently assembling a force to assist you. They'll join up with you in Fuyuki City, but even so, you'll be the spearhead of the operation. After all, in terms of raw power, you're still stronger than Captain Hitsugaya." Urahara finished and emphasized by snapping his fan shut at the same time._

"_What about my dad?" Ichigo asked as he stood up._

"_Oh he already knows!" Urahara replied in a jovial fashion. "It seems he's already sent your stuff ahead!"_

_End Flashback_

"_Damn old man…_" Ichigo thought darkly to himself before turning around and regarding the figure standing on the rail at the far end of the roof behind him. "How long do you intend to stand around there?" he asked the blue-clad figure.

"Ha! So you finally noticed me, huh? It sure took you long enough though, **Saber**". The blue-clad figure answered with a feral grin. "Now that that's over, let's get started!" With the swing of an arm, the figure materialized a crimson lance and leaping into the air, attacking with a ferocity that would have done a member of the Eleventh Division proud.

Barely drawing Zangetsu in time, Ichigo found himself barely capable of defending himself against a lightning-fast barrage of swings and thrusts as the lance-armed figure continued to press the attack. "What's wrong? Is this the best you can do, Saber? If so, then you do your class name a disservice!" he taunted Ichigo as he continued to attack.

"You bastard! Ichigo snarled as he swung Zangetsu to take advantage of an apparent hole in the enemy's defence. It turned out to be a feint however, and the opponent took the chance to get a good stab at Ichigo. Barely dodging in time, it left a gash on his left hand. Capitalizing on the resulting distraction, the opponent swung his lance towards Ichigo's neck, but Ichigo managed to leap up and over the edge of the building…and landed on seemingly thin air, much to his opponent's surprise. At the same time, Ichigo's spiritual pressure flared, and he was enveloped by the brilliant blue aura of his own spiritual power.

Smirking, the opponent settled back to a guarded stance before commenting "So you were holding back all this time?"

"Shut up." Ichigo snarled before charging, launching a series of attacks easily blocked by the opponent…whose feral smile quickly faded as he found himself being overpowered by Ichigo's raw strength. "_What's with this guy? His swordsmanship isn't what you would call refined, but it's definitely master-level. Could it be that this Saber never formally trained in swordsmanship and acquired his skills on the battlefield alone? Interesting…just my type of enemy!_" the opponent thought to himself before dodging instead of blocking, catching Ichigo by surprise and allowing him to launch a counter-attack…only for Ichigo to pull off a vanishing trick of some kind and launch an attack from the rear which he barely blocked in time. "Pretty nasty trick you got there. I'm the Servant Lancer by the way, sorry for the late introduction." The opponent grimly conceded to Ichigo, only for Ichigo to grimly reply in turn "Sorry, but I'm not this Saber you keep calling me. I'm the Substiture Shinigami, Ichigo Kurosaki. And there's nothing tricky about what I just did. It's just shunpo, after all."

And as he said this, his spiritual power flared again, this time taking the form of a demonic mask of sorts and amazingly enough, Ichigo's attacks grew even stronger. A series of swings and Ichigo sent Lancer flying. Leaping up to a higher position and gripping Zangetsu with both hands, Ichigo swung his Zanpakutou while saying "Getsuga Tensho."

A brilliant white crescent of spiritual power blasted from Zangetsu's edge and flew with incredible speed towards Lancer's falling form. Roaring with desperate fury, he barely stabilized himself in time and blocked the crescent of light with his lance…only to be sent flying by the force of the attack into the dirt of a nearby park with sufficient force to leave a small crater. Coughing up blood, and feeling several broken bones prodding painfully into his internal organs, Lancer cursed incoherently before fading away even as Ichigo arrived at the scene.

"He's gone?" Ichigo said to himself in confusion. "Just what is going on here…" he continued to say to himself as he resheathed Zangetsu behind him. But even as he turned away from the scene, a piercing pain shot through his left arm with the gash on the left hand as the origin. At the same time, a glowing purple circle flared to life on the ground with Ichigo in the center. "W-what the hell is this?" Ichigo stammered out as tendrils of darker purple energy surged out from the circle's edges and bound themselves around his limbs. Ichigo began to scream as an external force began to force its way into his mind.

* * *

Beneath the Matou Manor, Zouken Matou watched as his adopted granddaughter performed the summoning ritual to summon a Servant for the Holy Grail War. This time, he swore to himself, he would obtain the Holy Grail. The von Einzberns, the Tohsaka, or any other mage would not, no matter the cost. Zouken's broodings suddenly stopped as the ritual began to go wrong; the symbols within the circle vanished, and bright blue tendrils of energy surged from the edges and bound themselves around Sakura's limbs. Zouken immediately realized what this was: someone other than Sakura was struggling to summon the same Servant, and the Holy Grail itself had bound them together and challenged them both for the right to command by forcing them to overpower one another. Smirking, Zouken commanded the worms inside Sakura to awaken.

* * *

Ichigo writhed as thoughts and emotions that were not his own poured inside his head. Nightmarish visions and unspeakable desires blasted though his mind…but he refused to give in to the demonic whispers and horrific voices only he could hear. Despite the difficulty of moving his arm against the tendrils that bound it, Ichigo slowly forced his right hand up to his forehead, clenched it like a claw, and moved it in a swift, dragging motion downwards over his face. In an instant, a white Hollow mask with red, wavy markings over the left side had materialized over his face. Roaring with fury, Ichigo flared his spiritual power, shattering the tendrils in a blazing surge of red-black energy. The circle on the ground glowed a brilliant purple even as markings appeared on their own within the circle and a tri-petal design tattooed itself on Ichigo's left hand.

* * *

Beneath the Matou Manor, Zouken Matou stared in disbelief as the blue tendrils that bound Sakura turned to a red-black colour and Sakura began to scream in pain as the tendrils began to burn into her skin…but before they could do significant damage, the circle beneath her seemed to shatter like glass even as a wave of red-black energy flared outwards. Zouken himself barely managed to erect a barrier around himself…his familiars in the chamber were not so lucky, eaten away as though by acid. Sakura herself continued to scream as red-black arcs of lightning arced over her body…and abruptly they simply vanished as Sakura toppled to the floor unconscious. Zouken himself fell to his knees, filled with excruciating pain as though several of his internal organs had been ruptured, which could only mean one thing: the worms inside Sakura had been destroyed by that terrifying backlash of energy. As he struggled to get near his unconscious granddaughter, he considered the situation cautiously: the summoning ritual had not only failed, but had shown that at least one of the Masters in this war was not someone to be taken lightly. As he finally reached Sakura, he examined her to his mounting fear and anger; not only were the worms implanted into her destroyed, her magic circuit itself had been destroyed, and there, at the centre of her soul, was a burning shard of energy he didn't dare touch, reminiscent of the same red-black energy that had ruined the summoning ritual.

* * *

Meanwhile at the park, Ichigo gasped as he sought to stand straight. Passing a hand over his face, he dispersed his mask then slowly moved to grab Zangetsu's hilt over his shoulder. A woman stood facing him some distance in front of him, tall and simply put **stunning **with a perfectly proportioned body; long, shapely legs wearing black, purple-trimmed boots reaching up to her thighs; and a strapless, one-piece dress that showed off her figure and assets very well. Long, purple hair streamed down to her ankles, and her slender but obviously strong arms were encased in black sleeves held in place at the shoulders and wrists by purple bangles but leaving her fingers exposed. What caught Ichigo's attention the most was her face, however; she was beautiful, there was no doubt about that, but her eyes were hidden behind a purple half-mask held together at the centre by silver buckles.

"Who the hell are you?" Ichigo asked warily.

"Servant: Rider. Your servant…" she said after a moment's pause. After another pause she stepped forward a few steps, then knelt on one knee before Ichigo.

"My…servant?" stammered Ichigo, releasing Zangetsu's hilt.

Raising her face to meet his gaze, Rider simply replied "Yes, my Master."

* * *

To my readers, I assure you that I am not abandoning my other work, _Sakura: The Light of Change_, but after reading FateBlack Reflection, I was simply inspired to write this. Make of that what you will; on another note, since my other work has moved beyond a simple Fate and Bleach fanfic to incorporate influences from other works, I assure readers that this fic will strictly remain a Bleach and Fate fanfic. Of that, you have my word.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, names, and any copyrighted material used in this work. This is a fanfic, period. Everything belongs to their respective owners. Comments and constructive criticism are all very much appreciated.

Chapter 2: Settling In

"Master…me?" Ichigo stammered as he gazed at purple-haired woman kneeling before him. She had called herself Rider, but Ichigo was astute enough to realize that that was just a title of some kind rather than her actual name. At the same time he sensed that she was a spiritual being like he himself was…and then he realized that impossible though it may seem, his spiritual awareness was now higher than it should be.

"Yes." Rider replied, rising to her feet. "Here I stand in answer to your summons."

"Summon? Hey, wait I didn't summon you…" Ichigo began to protest but stopped as Rider began to glance around, and Ichigo began to hear the sound of approaching police sirens as well. Apparently someone must have noticed Lancer's 'landing' and called the cops. While he was confident that the police wouldn't be able to see him, he still wanted to talk to this woman someplace where there were no distractions. "Looks like I have no choice…hey, Rider, was it?"

Rider looked back to Ichigo "Yes, Master?"

Ichigo winced at that word before replying "Stop that. I have a name you know. It's Ichigo Kurosaki, but you can just call me Ichigo."

"As you wish, Ichigo." Rider replied. Ichigo nodded before saying "Right, let's go talk someplace else. Just make sure to keep up." Before Rider could reply, Ichigo leaped into the air and amazingly enough, began to make his way elsewhere at great speed while seemingly running and jumping on thin air itself. Shaking off her surprise at the sight, she moved to follow and catch up with her Master. "_Gravity-control…no, it's something else. One thing's for sure, Ichigo is no mage. For one thing, he's a spiritual being like me, and yet he was able to summon me despite not being a mage himself._" She thought to herself as she moved like a purple shadow, weaving her way over and past trees and buildings, keeping out of the sight of the people below. Then, to her surprise, she noticed that ahead of her, Ichigo was making no effort to avoid drawing attention…and quickly came to realize that he didn't need to: he was practically invisible to them. "_Ichigo Kurosaki, just what are you?_" she thought to herself. For a moment, she thought about the other mage who had tried to summon her, and then cleared her mind of the matter; whoever it was, they had failed to claim the right of command and as such were no longer her concern. For now, she just concentrated on keeping up with Ichigo without being seen.

* * *

"You think this is funny, don't you, you worthless priest?" Zouken raged into the phone.

"Naturally…" Kirei Kotomine replied in an amused tone. "…you once said we had much in common. And one of those things is to find amusement in our rivals and opponents' misfortunes." Before Zouken could respond in kind, Kirei continued, albeit with a tone of contempt rather than amusement this time "Spare me the indignation, Matou. You know as well as I do that I have no control over who the Holy Grail chooses to serve as the Masters. In fact, if what you said before is true, then the Holy Grail gave your precious 'granddaughter' a fair chance to claim the right of command. The fact that she failed to claim it is no fault on my part or that of the Holy Grail. It might even be said that you are to blame for the failure of the summoning ritual, not having trained or prepared her sufficiently for the task at hand. In other words, your inability to participate in this Fifth Holy Grail War is entirely your responsibility. Though I strongly doubt that even if you had been the one performing the summoning ritual, it would have succeeded." Kirei finished with a laugh.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Zouken snarled in response.

"Let me give a free piece of information. Rider, the Servant whom you sought to summon to fight for the Matou to claim the Holy Grail at last…" Kirei began in a mocking tone. "…was summoned by a Shinigami from the Soul Society. By all means, if you wish to confront him and attempt to take away his Command Spells by force, do so. Though I doubt the Soul Society would warmly welcome your arrival in the afterlife. Well then, farewell Matou. I have much to do." With that, Kirei hung up his end of the phone.

Zouken practically slammed the phone back into the receiver. The pain in his body had subsided, but it was still there; while he had finished all the immediate adjustments necessary to avoid an immediate collapse, some more work needed to be done. The problem was that Sakura was now effectively worthless by this point, with her magic circuits irreplaceably destroyed. He had sent Shinji to take the unconscious girl away with leave to do as he would to her…not that it really mattered by this point. Worse of all was that shard of energy in her soul; in his brief contact with it, it had eaten away at his Thamauturgical probes and he didn't dare examine it again in his current state. Zouken's musings were broken when he heard a figure slump against the doorframe. "Who dares?" he challenged as he turned around slowly, only to see a sweating and gasping Shinji. "Shinji, what's the meaning of this? Didn't I tell you to take care of Sakura?" he demanded from his useless grandson.

"Sakura…she…when I tried to…her skin, it burned like acid…" Shinji gasped out, holding out his hands and arms. And true enough, the skin on his palms and the lower side of his forearms had been eaten as though by acid, in some places exposing the muscle beneath.

"What in the world…" Zouken began in amazement when he and Shinji heard the front door open and close rapidly. Moving to the window, he saw Sakura running frantically towards and out the front gate. "That bitch!" raged Shinji; he quickly made a move to chase after her despite his injuries, only to be forestalled by a resigned wave of Zouken's arm. "No, let her go. She's useless to us now."

"And what of the Holy Grail War?" Shinji countered. Zouken shrugged before replying "Be patient. There are other means to enter this war, even if have to wait a while before we can put them into motion."

"What about Sakura?"

"What about her? She's useless at this point, either to us or to other mages. Let her go, she's more trouble than she's worth by this point."

* * *

Sakura ran down the streets and intersections, not stopping until she was sure that she had reached a safe distance. First the excruciatingly painful failure of the summoning ritual, and then to wake up only to have her 'brother' immediately try to force himself on her…she had had enough, falling to her knees and clutching herself in her arms as she recollected events of the past hour. "_And just what was that?_" she thought to herself, remembering the fiery surge of power that had burst out her body even as she struggled against Shinji despite knowing how fruitless it would be in the end, and then all of a sudden Shinji recoiling in pain, his arms and palms bloodied and blistered. As he ran and cowered to their 'grandfather', she had made her choice; she changed her clothes as quickly as possible and ran out of the manor as fast as she could. "_Something wrong, Queen?_" asked a voice in her head, and Sakura, who was closing her eyes in a desperate effort to hold back her tears, suddenly opened them in surprise. "Who are you?" she asked, looking around for the source of the voice. "_No need to ask out loud…we can talk to each other in our head, for we are always connected, for I am simply the side of yourself you have never known._"

* * *

Ichigo slid open the window to his apartment, clambered in followed shortly afterwards by Rider, closed the window behind them, and called out "Kon! Where are you, Kon?"

"Ichigo, you're back!" said Kon as he appeared from the bathroom. Rider looked at him in surprise; the figure looked exactly like her Master, except for the goofy and somewhat idiotic expression on his face, not to mention the whiny voice. "Of course I'm back. I brought a guest, so behave yourself, you hear me?" Ichigo began, but even as the words left his mouth, Kon was already leaping forwards towards Rider. "That dress looks awfully tight, doesn't it-" he began to say, but Ichigo had feared this might happen, and as Kon leapt forwards, Ichigo slammed his badge into his body's chest and knocked Kon out in his pill form. "Right, we're done with that." He commented in a deadpan fashion as he slipped back into his body.

"W-what was that?" Rider stammered in surprise. "Oh, that was just Kon. A mod soul I use to take care of my body while I'm in Shinigami form." Ichigo replied as he picked up Kon's pill, washed it in the sink before putting it away in an empty bottle. "That should keep him out of trouble."

"I don't understand at all." Rider complained, massaging her temples with her hands. "Just what are you Shinigami really? Are you really gods? And what is a mod soul?"

"All right, how about this? I tell you about Shinigami, and you tell me about the Holy Grail War. Does that sound good?" Ichigo offered. Rider nodded before replying "It does."

"Good…" Ichigo replied, then continued "…but before that, don't you have something else to wear? What you're wearing is a bit…distracting." He finished somewhat lamely.

Rider glanced at herself and smiled before replying "Is that so now?" "_He's such an innocent…_" she thought to herself. With a thought, her clothing changed in a flash of light; as it faded, she was now wearing a purple sweater, dark blue jeans, and casual shoes. Most strikingly, her half-mask was now gone, replaced by a set of eyeglasses and revealing her well-shaped, purple eyes. She then sat down on the couch, while Ichigo himself took a seat on a chair opposite her. Rider opened her mouth to speak, but Ichigo forestalled her with a hand and said "No, I'll start."

Rider nodded and replied "As you wish, Ichigo."

Sighing, Ichigo began "Shinigami are the guardians of the spiritual balance of Japan by overseeing the cycle of reincarnation. Though we are called 'Gods of Death', Shinigami are actually born from Human souls with sufficient spiritual power. Shinigami are tasked with sending Human souls that are unable to pass into the Soul Society by themselves, and purifying Hollows – Human souls that have lost themselves to the darkness within them – with our Zanpakutou. My sword, Zangetsu, is an example of a Zanpakutou; all Shinigami have them. Lower-class Shinigami use generic and nameless Zanpakutou called Asauchi; higher-class ones use named blades that embody our souls and are actually materializations of our spiritual power with their own unique abilities. Keeping up thus far?"

Rider nodded and thought to herself "_So they're not really gods. Not truly…just called gods out of convenience and regarded as such…just like me and my sisters._"

"Normally, Shinigami are invisible except to other spiritual beings and need false bodies to interact with the living world…" Ichigo continued "…but I'm a special case. I'm a **Substitute** Shinigami, since I obtained Shinigami powers while I was still alive." "_How I got them and the fact that dad is a Shinigami himself is a story for another day…_" Ichigo thought to himself as he finished his brief explanation of Shinigami and the Soul Society by saying "And lastly, mod souls are artificially-created and modified souls usually used by Shinigami to take care of their false bodies while not in use, but in my case, Kon actually takes care of my real body."

"I see, I think I understand what you are now." Rider told Ichigo with a nod. "Then I suppose it's my turn. The Holy Grail War is simply a contest to prove who is worthy of the Holy Grail. Its exact nature is unknown to me, but I do know it has the power to grant a single wish each to the victorious Master and Servant of the war. There are seven Masters, each of whom commands one servant each."

At that Rider paused and pointed at the mark on Ichigo's left hand and said "Those signify your three Command Spells and symbolize our compact with each other. And by sacrificing one of the three, you may give me an absolute command which I cannot refuse under any circumstances. We Servants are legendary figures from Humanity's past, present, future; normally, we cannot simply appear like this or be bound to mages as their servants, but thanks to the power of the Holy Grail, this restriction is lifted. The seven Servants are known by their class: Saber, Archer, Lancer, Berserker, Caster, Assassin, and Rider. This is to hide our true identities, in order to avoid our weaknesses which are known to legend from being exploited. Furthermore, each of us possesses what we call Noble Phantasms; in a similar way to your Zanpakutou, they all reflect our true power."

"I see…" Ichigo said, nodding in understanding.

"I have three Noble Phantasms: first is Bellerophon, which I can use to increase my control over the magical beasts I can summon and ride on the battlefield…" Ichigo's eyes widened upon hearing that. "…Breaker Gorgon, which seals my Mystic Eyes and prevents them from going rampant, and finally Blood Fort Andromeda, which allows me to obtain a large amount of mana by breaking down a large number of individuals within the area of effect…" she paused as Ichigo's face hardened.

"That last Noble Phantasm of yours, absolutely do not use it, understand?" he ordered her coldly.

Rider nodded and replied "As you wish. To be honest, I only intend to use that as a tool of last resort…" She stopped as Ichigo interrupted again "Even in the case of last resort, I will not tolerate the use of something that will kill large numbers of people for any reason whatsoever. Why do you need that mana stuff anyway?"

"Servants are spiritual beings; we need mana to remain in this world. Normally we draw our mana from our Masters, and in order to reduce the strain, we can disperse our physical form and function as an invisible spirit around our Masters, though in that form we cannot interact with the physical world. And one more thing: some Masters will order their Servants to attack others in order to consume their souls to increase their strength."

As Ichigo's face hardened again, Rider hurried to say "But rest assured, I have no intention of doing so. For one thing, I must respect your position and duty as a Shinigami to protect the souls of Humans, and for another, you have more than enough mana to sustain me even if I release all my power at once."

"Good, that's fine then." Ichigo said, somewhat mollified. "_I see…so that's why my spiritual awareness is so strong lately. She's been consuming all that excess spiritual power I usually bleed out._" He silently thought to himself. "One more question though: what do you intend to wish for when you obtain the Holy Grail?" Ichigo asked Rider.

"I have no desire for the Holy Grail. In fact, my summoning to this Holy Grail War was only made possible by two things: first, is the use by another mage of a certain artefact which is linked to my legend, and second, somehow something in my soul seems to resonate with something in yours. Together with your vast mana reserve, the Holy Grail saw fit to pit your power against the other mage when he or she attempted to summon. As events turned out, it appears you were the victor and earned the right of command over me." She answered.

Ichigo's eyes widened as he realized that the dark energy from earlier was probably the other mage's power. "_That power at the time was pure evil…Urahara-san was right. Someone like or arguably worse than Aizen is involved in all this. That aside, this thing called the Holy Grail is simply too powerful for Humans to have: it must be destroyed, no matter what._"

"I see. That's good to hear, for to be honest, I think the Holy Grail and its power are not meant for Humanity. And the Soul Society agrees: I've been ordered to destroy it the moment it appears." Ichigo grimly told Rider, and to his surprise, Rider nodded in agreement. "I agree. Still I do not believe that is what resonates between our two souls. Oh, and my true identity; as my Master, you have the right to know…" she began when Ichigo interrupted.

"No, you don't need to tell me. I've guessed it, given the name of one of your Noble Phantasms – Breaker Gorgon."

Lowering her gaze to the floor, she asked in a low voice "If so, are you still willing to be my Master and fight by my side? After everything I've done? After knowing what I am?"

Scratching his head, Ichigo replied after making a sound of discomfort "Well, I'm not going to pretend that you didn't do what you did, but from what I know, you only did it to protect your family. And I think, no, I know that's what resonates between the two of us: our desire to protect our families and those close to us. Besides, what happened wasn't entirely your fault; if anything, most of the blame goes to those bastard gods of Olympus. Tell you what, when this is all over, I'll take you to the Soul Society and plead on your behalf before the Central 46. The Soul Society is a lot of things, but they're not ungrateful: they take care of their friends. I'll see to it you get a second chance."

"If we get through this…" Rider began with a look of doubt on her face only for Ichigo to interrupt "No ifs Rider; we're going to get through this, no matter what. And I won't hear otherwise, understand?"

"Ichigo…" Rider said, looking up towards him in surprise before smiling to herself. "You really are something else, you know that?"

"You really think so?" Ichigo asked with a smile. It was quite a winning smile, and Rider fought to supress a blush that rose to her cheek at the sight. "Oh that's right, I have school tomorrow." Ichigo said, glancing at the wall-mounted clock. "I have to get to bed." He said, going into the bedroom and closing the door behind him. As muffled sounds of Ichigo changing and getting things into order passed through the door, Rider walked towards the window and told herself with a smile "If only I had met someone like him back then, then perhaps things would have turned out differently…"

Her musings ended as Ichigo emerged from the bedroom in his night clothes and carrying an alarm clock, a pillow and a blanket. "Rider, you can sleep on the bed. I'll sleep on the couch." He told her.

Surprised, Rider began to protest but Ichigo cut her off. "No buts, Rider. Master's orders, so step to it." Ichigo told her.

With a resigned smile, Rider simply nodded, walked towards the bedroom, and as she walked in, she told him again "You truly are something else."

Ichigo replied as he put his pillow on one end of the couch and set his alarm clock "Sorry if I don't meet your expectations, but that's just the way I am."

Rider simply smiled and said "Well, I think I like you the way you are now. Sleep well, Ichigo."

"Yeah, sleep well too, Rider." He told her over his shoulder. As Rider closed the door behind her, Ichigo turned off the lights, walked over to the couch, lay down, and went to sleep.

* * *

Yeah, Shinji is pretty much a jerk among other things in this chapter…but there's nothing new about that. Not sorry to have him badly burned by Sakura's Hierro. As to how she got it, she obtained an inner Hollow when a portion of Ichigo's spiritual power while he was Hollowfied entered her via that backlash during Rider's summoning. And yes, that same Hollow spiritual power destroyed the worms in her body as well as her magic circuits because Hollow spiritual power **IS **corrosive like acid. If you may recall, even Yoruichi suffered skin injuries that required serious attention after she fought Yammy. She even admitted engaging in hand-to-hand combat with him while not using Shunko was a big mistake, seeing as Hierro involves layering an Arrancar's spiritual power in a hardened layer over their skin. But while Ichigo's power created her inner Hollow, it is not dependent on Ichigo. That inner Hollow of hers has already absorbed Ichigo's power that went to Sakura and incorporated it into her slowly growing spiritual power.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, names, and any copyrighted material used in this work. This is a fanfic, period. Everything belongs to their respective owners. Comments and constructive criticism are all very much appreciated.

Chapter 3: Dreams and Reality

Sakura slept uneasily, tossing and turning on her futon, when suddenly she found herself standing in her night clothes on the rocky, fog-shrouded shore of a wide river, so wide that she couldn't see the other shore, also wreathed in fog. Overhead, a full moon shone wanly over the whole scene, and together with the coloured lanterns floating by on the river it decidedly made for an eerie atmosphere. As Sakura shivered and began to slowly back step away from the shore, an amused voice almost made her heart stop. "So, we finally meet Queen…though that's not really accurate, seeing as we've been always been together…oh well, never mind."

Sakura whirled to see the source of the voice, a young woman dressed in a white yukata with a black obi sitting on a nearby rock, casually and lazily pulling a hand through the cold river water. Realizing that Sakura was now looking at her, the young woman stood up and smiling, turned to gaze at Sakura, who stepped back with a gasp and a look of horror on her face. The young woman looked exactly like her, only with white hair and alabaster skin, and her eyes…they were black with golden irises, completely inhuman. "What's wrong, Queen?" she asked in confident and fearless voice.

"Just who are you? What do you want from me?" Sakura demanded, struggling to keep the fear from her voice. Abruptly, the other woman was beside her, no longer smiling, and with a hand on Sakura's chest. "Don't make me repeat myself: I am you, the part of you which you have never known. I suppose you can call me White Sakura. Yes, that should do. And this…" at that White Sakura stepped back and gestured grandly around her "…is your inner world. Gloomy, isn't?" White Sakura asked, smiling again.

"Y-yes…" Sakura stammered in reply, the fear still in her voice but now under control. "It reminds me of the Sanzu River." White Sakura laughed in response before replying "What an interesting comparison! Well, whatever. To be honest, it's too gloomy for my taste, I'd like it better if you replace all these rocks with some rice fields, get rid of all this fog, put the sun in place of that sickly moon, and finally, some ice-capped mountains on the horizon…" suddenly White Sakura stopped, realizing that she was rambling to herself. Waving her hands apologetically, she said "Sorry about that! Anyway, this whole place only reflects your mentality…in other words: this place is only like this because this is how you view the world around you."

Losing her smile, White Sakura suddenly stopped and looked up at the starless and sickly sky before making a sound of disgust. "Out of time, huh?" she said, before looking at Sakura. Getting close to her, she placed a finger on her lips before placing both hands on Sakura's shoulders. "Listen up, Queen. I'll make this short, so be sure to remember: I'll be lending you my power from now on. You can already use Hierro, layering our spiritual power over our skin in a steel-hard and corrosive protective layer, at least to those without sufficient spiritual power…" Upon hearing this, Sakura remembered and suddenly understood why Shinji's arms and palms had burned at her touch. Realizing that Sakura had remembered, White Sakura stopped and smiled again before continuing "Oh good, you remember. From now on, Hierro will activate the moment you or our instincts sense a threat. I still have a couple more tricks to teach you; when you want to learn them…you know where to find me. Understand?"

As Sakura nodded in response, White Sakura took her hands off of Sakura's shoulders, turned and walked back to the riverbank. Without looking at her, White Sakura continued "But remember: I'm only lending you my power. Until the day you face me here in open battle, defeat me, and claim our power for you and you alone Queen, don't die." Looking over her shoulder at Sakura, White Sakura had no smile as she finished "If you do, I'll take your body for myself. Now, wake up."

Sakura's eyes flared open, and she found herself staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling. "_Oh, that's right. I went to senpai's house last night._" Sitting up, she heard someone moving outside her door, and a moment later, it slid open. "Good morning, Sakura." Shiro Emiya said with a smile. "Breakfast is ready."

Sakura smiled and replied "I'll be there after I freshen up, senpai."

"That's good to hear." Shiro said, turning back to the hallway, when he paused all of sudden. "Senpai?" she asked. "Hey Sakura…" Shiro began hesitantly, then sighing, turned back to her with concerned expression. "…if Shinji ever bullies you again, just tell me. You shouldn't let him push you around or force you to do anything you don't want to do. I'll talk to him…or something." He finished somewhat lamely, uncomfortably running a hand through his hair. Sakura looked at him for a moment before smiling sweetly and saying "It's alright senpai. I'm sure he didn't mean any real harm."

"_That's a lie Queen, and you know it._" She heard White Sakura say in her head, but she ignored her. Before she could say anymore though, Shiro looked at her with a resolute look on his face and said "Even so, I don't like the idea of him bullying you. He's your brother, isn't he?"

"_If only he knew the truth…_" White Sakura said with a laugh.

"Still, I think you should live here for the time being. You keep some clothes here, don't you? And in any case, it's not like I can't afford to support you for a while as well." Shiro finished, looking and sounding more and more resolute with every word. Raising her hands in protest, Sakura began to say "Oh no, I couldn't impose myself-" but Shiro cut her off. "No buts Sakura. It's for the best, I'm sure." Seeing the expression on his face, Sakura knew that any further discussion on this matter would be meaningless. Sighing, she said "I understand senpai."

Nodding, Shiro turned and walked out, saying "I'll explain to Fuji-nee while you're freshening up. We'll wait for you before we start breakfast."

As Shiro walked away, Sakura stood up and stretched before heading for the bathroom. As she looked in the mirror, White Sakura spoke up in her head again "_Our prince sure is charming, isn't he? Even if he is a door-mat of a guy, he really does care for us. Not many people are like that anymore._" Sakura smiled, agreeing for the first time with her alter-ego. "_Yes, he's perfect the way he is. I couldn't ask for a better person than my senpai._" She thought a reply to White Sakura, and heard a ghostly laugh in her head as a reply.

* * *

"Long time no see, Ichigo." came a voice, and Ichigo suddenly found himself standing on the glass walls of a skyscraper in a city reaching towards a clear, blue sky. Despite the impossibility of this scene, Ichigo found himself smiling and turned towards the source of the voice, a middle-aged man wearing sunglasses and a long, black cloak. "Hey, it's been a while, old man Zangetsu." He greeted the spirit of his Zanpakutou.

"It appears that you've made a new friend." Zangetsu observed casually.

"Oh, you mean Rider?" Ichigo replied. "Well, I wouldn't call her a friend yet, but it seems I'm responsible for her now, and besides, given from what I know about her background as the Gorgon Medusa, she deserves a second chance."

"Take good care of her, Ichigo. She may yet prove to be more to you than as a mere friend." Zangetsu said as walked by Ichigo.

"Zangetsu." Ichigo said as the spirit walked away. As the spirit stopped and looked over his shoulder at Ichigo, Ichigo smiled and said "It's good to see you again. I never expected to see you again after using the Final Getsuga Tensho, so just let me say thanks for everything."

Looking at Ichigo with an inscrutable expression on his face, he turned away before replying "Why thank me? I've told you didn't I? My only desire is to protect you, Ichigo." As he heard those words, Ichigo opened his eyes and slowly stood up from the couch. Stretching himself and yawning, he walked to the bathroom for a quick shower before changing into his new school uniform. Opening the curtains to let some light into the apartment, he considered waking Rider then decided to let her sleep in while he prepared some breakfast.

* * *

Rider found herself standing on a hill of yellow rock in her casual wear, staring out what appeared to be an ancient Japanese city of white buildings and roofs with yellow tiles. "_Where am I?_" she wondered. Turning, she was shocked to see her Master lying prone on the ground, struggling to rise despite intense pain. "Ichigo!" she cried out, rushing to his side and reached out to help him out, only for her hands to pass right through him. "What…wait, could this be…a memory?" Looking around, she saw several other people standing there, all wearing the same black and white kimonos that Ichigo wore in his Shinigami form. "Shinigami?" she asked herself. "If so, then this must be the Soul Society." Then she noticed that one of the Shinigami, a dark-haired man wearing a white haori was on his knees and badly bleeding from several wounds, especially from a particularly deep one in his chest, while a petite young woman in a white yukata supported him and prevented him from falling; judging from their similar appearances, they must be siblings. A dog-like Shinigami, also wearing the white haori over his kimono, was also bleeding from several wounds. "_Judging from the deferent postures of the ones with only the regular kimono, the ones with the white haori must be the leaders of the Shinigami._" She thought to herself, noticing for the first time that from the waist-up, Ichigo here was wearing what appeared to be a tattered black coat instead of a regular kimono. Before she could muse on that, one of the Shinigami leaders, a man with long, white hair stepped forwards and spoke up.

"To go so far as to ally with the Menos…just what are you planning, Aizen?" he said, and Rider directing her gaze accordingly, noticed that he was addressing the question to a bespectacled man with a seemingly mild-mannered and intellectual appearance standing on a broken chunk of rock slowly ascending to what appeared to be a hole in the sky by means of a glowing pillar of light. And in that same hole in the sky, apparently waiting in deference were several, masked giants wearing black robes. The man named Aizen was not alone ascending in glowing pillars of light: also standing on broken chunks of rock and slowly ascending in an identical fashion were two men, one with short silvery hair, and the other with dark skin and hair bound in dreadlocks. Both Aizen and the man with silvery hair wore white haori, confusing Rider. From the way the Shinigami on the ground were looking at them, these men were enemies. "_Could they have been spies or assassins? Or maybe even traitors?_" she wondered.

"To go higher." Aizen replied.

"And have you fallen in the process?" the white-haired man asked in turn.

"You are too arrogant, Ukitake. No one was standing in Heaven to begin with; not you, not me, not even gods. But soon, that unbearable vacancy on the Throne of Heaven will end; for I will be sitting on it." And as he said this, the man named Aizen closed his eyes, slowly removed his glasses and crushed them in one hand, while running his other hand through his hair. Then, as he re-opened his eyes slowly and gazed back down towards the ground, despite knowing this was only a memory, Rider shivered in fear at the complete lack of fear and empathy in the man's eyes.

"Farewell, my fellow Shinigami. And farewell, boy; for a Human, you truly are very interesting." Aizen said, looking down with a smug and confident smile and a seemingly-benevolent look on his face at Ichigo, even as he and his compatriots were deferentially taken away by the pale white hands of the masked and black-robed giants.

Rider's eyes flared open and she found herself on her side in Ichigo's bed. Getting up, she stretched and yawned before combing her hair with a comb and straightening her clothes. As she opened the door, the smell of freshly-prepared food made her stomach rumble embarrassingly. At the sound of the bedroom door opening, Ichigo turned to look inquiringly as he set a platter of food on the table. Seeing Rider, he greeted her "Good morning, Rider."

"Good morning, Ichigo." She returned the greeting. "Take a seat and have some breakfast." Offered Ichigo, taking a seat opposite her, and putting some rice in a bowl, handed it to Rider once she had taken her seat. "Japanese is fine, right?" he asked.

"It's fine." She replied, gratefully taking the offered bowl. Ichigo himself was caught off-guard for a moment as he got a good look at her eyes. He had seen them last night, but the fading but still present adrenaline surge brought about by his fight with Lancer and then the summoning ritual had prevented him from appreciating her physical attributes. There was no doubt about it: Rider was beautiful, with a striking figure and a potentially seductive voice, but what caught Ichigo's attention the most was her face and her eyes…especially the eyes. They had purple irises, and square pupils; unusual certainly, but in her case it only further accented her beauty. Mentally shaking himself, Ichigo turned back to the business of eating his breakfast; he could enjoy Rider's company when he had the luxury to do so, though Zangetsu's words about Rider becoming more than a friend came back unbidden in his mind.

Eating breakfast in relative silence, broken only by requests for additional rice or condiments, Rider finally broke the increasingly awkward silence as Ichigo was putting the dirty dishes and utensils in the kitchen sink. "So what's the plan today, Ichigo?" she asked. Ichigo shrugged before replying "School during the day obviously. Thankfully, I don't have to worry about Hollows here, that's for certain. Tonight, I'll let Kon handle my body and we'll go on patrol. From what the Soul Society tells me, this Holy Grail War is apparently fought in secret, so the other Masters and their Servants will be operating at night mostly. We'll avoid combat as much as possible, and concentrate our efforts on finding and stopping any Master or Servant who'd attack ordinary Humans."

"I see." Nodded Rider in understanding; then she asked "What's wrong Ichigo? You tensed up when you mentioned the Holy Grail War." Ichigo glanced up from the rapidly-filling sink in surprise before ruefully smiling. "So you noticed that, huh?" Turning off the tap, he wiped his hands on a piece of cloth before continuing "It's just that the Soul Society's orders aside, I personally don't want this war to end like the previous one."

"What happened?" Rider pushed the issue. Ichigo was silent for a moment before replying "Apparently, something went terribly wrong and half the city was destroyed at the very end of the previous Holy Grail War. A lot of people lost their lives then…to be honest, this whole damn thing is a big irresponsibility for those damned mages."

"Saying something like that…is it because you've fought a war before? With the man named Aizen?" Rider asked, and then realized her mistake as Ichigo looked at her sharply. "How do you know I've fought in another war? And where did you hear that name?" he asked suspiciously.

Sighing, Rider said "I'm sorry, but I never told you. Masters and Servants are connected on a spiritual level, and while we sleep, it's possible for us to see glimpses of one another's memories instead of dreams."

Looking away, Ichigo sighed before looking back at Rider and said "It's alright, it's not your fault you could see into my head, though I wish you'd told me this earlier. Anyway, what's done is done, but the war with Aizen is a long story, and should be told when we have the luxury for it." Standing up, Ichigo put on his bag before looking at Rider and said "You can turn into a spirit can't you? In that case, let's get going, I'd rather not be late during my first day in school. I'll get into enough trouble with this orange hair of mine anyway, so let's not add fuel to the fire."

"Your hair?" asked Rider in surprise. Ichigo grunted and said "My hair is naturally orange in colour, so I keep getting mistaken for a delinquent. Not to mention real delinquents thinking I'm an upstart and keep trying to 'put me in my place'. Idiots…"

"Is that so now?" Rider asked thoughtfully as she and Ichigo arrived at the door; as Ichigo opened it, she said "But I think that hair suits you just fine, Ichigo." Looking back at her over his shoulder, and noticing the unusual length and colour of her own hair, he smiled and said "Sure you do…come on let's go." Smiling and closing her eyes, Rider faded into thin air.

* * *

"My name is Kurosaki Ichigo, nice to meet you." Ichigo introduced himself, bowing to the class. Beside him, Fujimura Taiga nodded in approval before pointing out a seat and telling him "There's a spare seat over there. Please take your seat, Kurosaki-kun."

"Alright then." Ichigo replied, already feeling the awkward glances and whispers about his hair colour. "_Patience, Ichigo. They're just reacting as you would expect._" He heard Rider say in his head. "_Yeah, yeah, I get it._" He responded in kind as he sat down and class started.

Later on, during lunch break, Ichigo decided to take a break from all the strange looks and hidden whispers around him by taking a walk around the school grounds. "_Nothing seems out of the ordinary…except for that strange feeling...Rider, is it a Servant?_" he asked silently. After a moment, she replied "_Yes, it's a Servant. We're more or less on par with one another, but I cannot identify his class with any reliability._"

"_It's alright..._" Ichigo replied. "_He doesn't seem to be planning to attack, so let him be for now._"

"_I understand, Ichigo._" Rider replied. As Ichigo turned a corner, he noticed a blue-haired guy apparently bullying a blue-haired girl under a tree. The girl was apparently trying to resist, though it was obvious the guy was getting more and more insistent. Suppressing a growl of irritation, Ichigo began to make his way towards the pair.

* * *

Well, there's the third chapter, I hope you guys like it.

Firstly, I'd like to thank those guys pointing out that I seemed to rush things between Ichigo and Rider in the previous chapter, in particular about him not noticing her eyes. I hope I addressed that in this chapter; and regarding those who are uncomfortable with Rider blushing at Ichigo in the previous chapter, this is actually a shout-out to the anime version of Bleach where Ichigo is made to look like a subconscious ladies' man, unlike in the manga, where Kubo-san has studiously avoided portraying Ichigo or anyone else (apart from Captain Kyouraku) in such a manner.

Second, regarding Sakura's inner Hollow aka White Sakura, she's a bit unusual in that while she is a Hollow, and she does make it clear that if Sakura attempts to and fails to subdue her, she will take control of Sakura's body, unlike Hollow Ichigo, White Sakura actually cares for Sakura, and wants her to take control of her powers. This is because whereas Hollow Ichigo is only the embodiment of Ichigo's primal instincts, White Sakura is both that and all her repressed character traits. Simply put, White Sakura is to Sakura what both Zangetsu and Hollow Ichigo are to Ichigo.

And finally, Rider's first sight of the Soul Society…I have to admit that I chose that scene simply out of the sheer amount of AWESOME. Say what you want about Aizen, but that scene where Aizen ascends to Hueco Mundo in both the manga and anime is among the best in Bleach. Story-wise, it seemed a good way to give her some insights into the workings of the Gotei 13 and Ichigo's background without Ichigo telling her himself. With that said, until next time folks!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, names, and any copyrighted material used in this work. This is a fanfic, period. Everything belongs to their respective owners. Comments and constructive criticism are all very much appreciated.

Chapter 4: Demon Mask, Crimson Light

"Stop this! I'm not going back there, and besides, didn't grandfather agree over the phone for me to live with Emiya-senpai?" Sakura told Shinji, as she found herself driven into a corner by her brother, or in this case, against a tree on the school grounds. And for once, White Sakura was silent and unhelpful, unwilling to use her powers so openly unless absolutely necessary.

"Like hell I care about that!" spat Shinji, slamming his hands into the tree trunk on either side of Sakura's head. "You're going back home, or I tell Emiya **everything**. You don't want that do you?" he said, smiling cruelly at the look of absolute horror on her face. "Y-you wouldn't…" she stuttered a reply. In response, Shinji began to say "Don't..." when someone interrupted from behind him.

"Hey seaweed hair!" came a voice, and Shinji turned in outrage. "What did you…" he began to say when a man's foot slammed into his face and sent him flying and sprawling to the ground some distance away from Sakura. "The lady said no. Are you deaf?" the attacker asked in an irate tone. Sakura for her part looked over her scowling rescuer in surprise: a fairly tall, lean young man wearing their school's uniform with spiky orange hair that for some reason didn't seem to look to have been dyed. "W-who the hell are you?" demanded Shinji from a kneeling position on the ground, clutching his face.

"Good question, the name's Kurosaki Ichigo." Ichigo replied. Shinji snickered at that, getting back to his feet. "What's that? Your name is 'strawberry'?" he began to laugh, completely missing the darkening scowl on Ichigo's face and the throbbing vein on his cheek. "Did you just call me 'strawberry'?" Ichigo growled darkly.

"Anyway, you stay out of this! I'm her brother, and this concerns family matters; outsiders like you should just butt out!" he said, arrogantly and disdainfully dismissing Ichigo…not realizing that this was quite probably the single worst thing to say to someone like Ichigo. Eyes widening in surprise, and then narrowing dangerously, Ichigo asked in a cold and deceptively calm voice "You're her older brother?"

"That's right, so get out of here, 'strawberry'." Shinji affirmed, closing his eyes and looking away in disdain…only to be caught off guard as Ichigo grabbed him by the collar and raised his other fist to strike. "YOU BASTARD!" he roared as he smashed his fist into Shinji's suddenly terrified face with enough force to knock Shinji out of his grasp despite his grip on the other guy's collar. Sakura covered her face with her hands as this happened, but she found herself unable to stop herself from watching between her fingers, or from feeling a certain amount satisfaction in hearing a popping sound as Ichigo's blow broke Shinji's nose. As Shinji cowered in fear and whimpered in pain on the ground in front of Ichigo, the latter looked down at him and spat out "You piece of trash! Do you know why the elder sibling is born first? It's so they can protect the younger siblings! Get up and get out of my sight! If I catch you bullying your sister again, I swear, I'll send you to the hospital myself!"

Whimpering pitifully, and clutching his broken and bloody nose, Shinji ran like hell…and as Ichigo just stood there pulling himself together, Sakura stepped out from behind him and bowed. "Thank you very much, but there was no need for you to get involved." She said to Ichigo with smile and a soft voice. Ichigo regarded her from the corner of his eyes, then raised a hand and placed it on her head in a reassuring fashion. "You shouldn't let him push you around like that, you know. He's your big brother; his job is to watch over you and make sure you don't get hurt."

Before he could say anymore, Shiro came running. "Sakura, are you alright?" he called, only to be brought up short at the sight of Ichigo standing beside Sakura. "Kurosaki-san?" he said in surprise. "Hmmm…oh that's right, you're from my class, aren't you?" Ichigo responded.

"That's right. I'm Emiya Shiro, by the way." Shiro introduced himself with a smile before turning to Sakura. "Are you alright?" he asked. Sakura nodded and replied "Yes, I'm fine. Kurosaki-senpai helped me out. What about nii-san though?" Shiro smiled ruefully before replying "I saw him running off with his tail between his legs and his nose all bloody." Turning back to Ichigo, he said "Don't you think you could have gone a bit easier on him?"

Shrugging, Ichigo replied "Not really. It's an elder sibling's job to protect the younger sibling, and I can't and won't back down on that." Seeing a look of resolution in Ichigo's eyes, Shiro simply nodded and replied "I see. Sorry, I misunderstood. You have a sibling then?" "I have two, actually." Ichigo replied. Before any of them could continue the conversation, a bell rang signalling the end of lunch break. "Looks like lunch is over, huh?" Shiro noted, before saying to Ichigo "We should get back to class."

"Sure, sounds good to me." Ichigo replied, before saying to Sakura "See you, Sakura." Sakura nodded and said "Alright then, Emiya-senpai, and Kurosaki-senpai."

As they separated, Sakura heading back to her class, and Ichigo and Shiro going back to theirs, Sakura mulled over her thoughts. One thing in particular kept coming back to mind: a warm, reassuring feel from when Ichigo had placed his hand on her head. "_It's like what I feel when I'm with Emiya-senpai, but at the same time, it's not the same feeling._" She thought to herself. Pausing in the hallway outside her classroom, she took some time to gaze out of the hallway window into the blue sky, and silently wondered to herself "_I wonder…is this what a real brother is supposed to feel like? If so, I wish…I wish I had a brother like Kurosaki-san, not like Shinji, who always hurts me, or even Rin, who left me all by myself._" Briefly closing her eyes mournfully, she turned away from the window and entered her classroom.

* * *

At about the same time, Zouken was walking back into the Matou Manor grounds back from a trip to a public notary. He had made certain arrangements, and was actually quite pleased with the situation; while certainly not the best, it was still better than he had initially thought. Earlier that morning, he had received a call from a certain Fujimura Taiga informing him of Sakura's decision to indefinitely stay at the Emiya Household; he had consented willingly, Sakura was worthless to him by this point, but within minutes of the call, had found himself coming up with a new strategy to manipulate the situation to the Matou family's advantage. He had known of Sakura's relationship with the Emiya boy, and while he had no care or interest in the boy until then, he had nonetheless discreetly run some checks on his potential, and uncovered his rather interesting talent.

At the time, it had seemed a mere footnote in his knowledge regarding the mages living in Fuyuki City…until today that is. Zouken smiled as he entered his home; while Sakura's magic circuits had been irreplaceably lost, Emiya still had his. And their descendants would inherit them, along with his talents. A maternal link to those descendants would prove valuable; and so it was without hesitation that Zouken had gone to a public notary to make Sakura his sole beneficiary upon his 'death'. As for disowning Shinji in all but name, he didn't really care about that worthless idiot. Entering his private chambers to make personal arrangements for his 'death' and a new identity that would allow him to shadow Sakura and her suddenly valuable link to the Emiya, he noticed something was off. It wasn't that the alarms and barriers around the place were gone or had been damaged; in fact, they were still there and in prime condition. Then he realized it: his familiars in the room were nowhere to be found, almost as if they had never existed. Zouken realized to his mounting alarm that someone had infiltrated the Matou Manor and scouted it out while he was gone.

* * *

_The Soul Society, the Seireitei, Second Division Barracks, Captain's Office_

"Reporting…" began an Executive Militia team leader, kneeling on the floor before Sui-Feng, Captain of the Second Division and Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukido. "As requested by Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi of the Twelfth Division, we have infiltrated and scouted out the Matou Manor in Fuyuki City. Resistance from in-place defences was considerable, but merely troublesome at best. No casualties. All the requested information has been sent to the SRDI. That is all."

Standing before her subordinate and absent-mindedly stroking a black toy cat, Sui-Feng nodded and replied "Very well, you may return to your duties."

"Ma'am!" the man responded before disappearing in the blink of an eye. Sui-Feng stood there, stroking her toy while thinking to herself "_Kurotsuchi…just what are you planning? Well, I guess it doesn't matter so long as you don't do anything that requires me to kill you._"

* * *

_The Soul Society, the Seireitei, Twelfth Division Barracks, Captain's Office_

Mayuri Kurotsuchi laughed softly as he finished reviewing the compiled data acquired by the Onmitsukido. Personally, he had never had much interest in mages; being the ancestors of the Quincy, he had always assumed they were much more primitive than their descendants. New information recently brought to light had just proven this assumption to be false, however, and Mayuri was eager to start testing new hypotheses.

"It's finished." He said triumphantly, staring at his newest creation on the screen. "Nemu!" he called to his lieutenant, who appeared in an instant. "Yes, Mayuri-sama?" she queried. "Hurry and get the materials needed for this. Afterwards, set up these arrangements. Now, go!" he ordered her while at the same time gave her certain written instructions. Once she was gone, Mayuri smiled as he began to look forward to his next move.

* * *

_Later that evening, at a certain apartment building in Fuyuki City_

Ichigo smashed a skeleton warrior to dust with a single spiritual power-infused blow, before sweeping round to do the same to a second, and dodging a third's sword swing…before pulverising that skeleton warrior as well. Unusually enough, Ichigo didn't even bother Zangetsu for this; these creatures, or familiars as Rider had called them, were nothing compared to a Hollow, and Ichigo didn't think it was worth using Zangetsu on such pathetic opponents.

Rider, however, was a different story, lashing out not just with her weapon – an unusual pair of metallic stakes attached to one another by a long chain – but with her own arms and legs in an acrobatic display as beautiful as it was deadly. After the clearing the first set of skeleton warriors that night, Ichigo knew he'd have difficulty against her in close-quarters combat, and wondered if she might actually prove to be a worthy sparring partner for Yoruichi herself…but what concerned him most at the moment was the fact that Rider's movements showed off her body quite well, and in ways that Ichigo's subconscious found very interesting, much to his conscious dismay. Still, he hid his discomfort well, having had much practice hiding his irritation at casual rumours started by his orange hair, smashing another skeleton warrior to dust, even as Rider finished off the last one by throwing one of her stakes through its head.

"That's the last of them." She said. Ichigo nodded and said "Looks like we made it in time, and no one actually died. Thank goodness for that; the Soul Society might have given me some grief if I arrived too late."

Ichigo then noted the arrival of the police and emergency teams. "Let's go, Rider." He said, leaping out of a window with Rider close behind him. A few moments later, and they were standing on the roof of a skyscraper elsewhere, where Ichigo gazed out over the city. "Looks like that Servant isn't running anymore of his or her goons for now. Now then…" Ichigo suddenly stopped as he felt a massive surge of power reverberating through the air. "Ichigo!" Rider said in alarm. "Yeah, I felt it too. Was it a Servant?" he responded. Rider nodded and said "It's most likely Berserker."

"Berserker?" Ichigo asked.

"The strongest of the Servants; even I am not confident I can take him on my own in a straight fight." Rider said darkly. To her surprise, Ichigo simply smiled and said "In that case, I think it's my turn to show you what I can do with my weapon. Let's go Rider!" Ichigo said, leaping off in the direction of the energy surge. "Ichigo, wait!" Rider shouted as she leapt after him.

* * *

Berserker roared in fury and swung his axe in broad arcs; despite her superior skill and agility, Saber found herself being overpowered and forced onto the defensive by her opponent's sheer strength, a situation compounded by her earlier and as of yet unhealed injury from Lancer's strike. "What's this? Is this all your Servant can do? Well, it's to be expected. After all, my Berserker's true identity is Hercules, the legendary hero of ancient Greece." Illyasviel von Einzbern, Berserker's Master, revealed her Servant's true identity in a gloating manner and with a short and cruel laugh. Shiro moved to help Saber but was held back by Rin, who proceeded to attack Berserker to no effect with her magecraft. "What strong resistance!" she said with frustration evident in her voice. Finally, it happened; as Saber made to flank her opponent, Berserker instinctively swung his axe and smashed her into the ground, her defence barely enough to avoid critical injury. "Stop playing and kill her already before she regenerates, Berserker!" Illyasviel ordered as Saber rose tottering to her knees. With a growl of assent, Berserker raised his axe and swung it down towards Saber. At the same time Shiro started forwards…only for a orange-haired figure in a black and white kimono with a cleaver-like sword to block the attack with a shower of sparks and a powerful blast of displaced air.

Even as Shiro, Rin, and Saber were recovering from their surprise, an attractive woman with long purple hair and wearing revealing clothes swooped in and kicked a surprised Saber into her Master's arms with enough force to send them sprawling at Rin's feet. And in the blink of an eye, that same woman had placed herself at a safe distance from the melee of battle while placing herself between the three and said melee. "Servant: Rider." Rider introduced herself. "Stay out of this, this battle now belongs to my Master."

"Your Master?" Rin said in surprise, but anything else she had to say was lost as she found herself wrapped up watching the battle between Rider's Master and Berserker.

Ichigo had been forced to a knee while defending the blonde Servant, but once both her and Rider had moved to a safe distance, he had pushed Berserker back. "_Rider was right…Berserker truly is the strongest in terms of pure power. The fact that he's creating shockwaves of air pressure behind his blows is proof of that…simply dodging the blade isn't enough. If I'm not careful the air pressure will be the one to do me in._" Ichigo thought to himself as he defended against Berserker's attacks. For the most part he dodged most of the blows, and blocking those he couldn't dodge; for now, he stayed on the defensive and tried to assess his opponent's style, eerily finding himself reminded of Kenpachi Zaraki, Captain of the Eleventh Division, another berserker-like warrior with a similar ability, albeit it was his monstrous spiritual pressure that trailed around and after his sword's blade rather than air pressure that was the threat.

From behind Berserker, Illyasviel watched the scene in amazement. "Impossible…" she whispered in disbelief. "Someone's actually fighting Berserker toe-to-toe?" On the other side, Rin was also in a similar state of disbelief. "_That's Rider's Master? But from what I can sense, he's also a spiritual being, so how can he be a Master? And to top it all off, he's fighting Berserker on equal terms, something even Saber couldn't do! Just who, no, what is he?_" Beside her, Shiro and Saber watched in amazement even as the latter recovered in his arms; as Rider's Master dodged a blow, Shiro recognized the face in surprise. "Kurosaki?" he said in disbelief.

Finally, with a triumphant roar, Berserker swung his axe downwards, forcing Ichigo to block with Zangetsu two-handed. The resulting force of impact cracked the ground beneath his feet, and sending out another powerful blast of displaced air. "You're strong…" Ichigo grated out. "Looks like I can't hold back." With that, Ichigo released his spiritual power, becoming engulfed in an aura of blue energy, which quickly took the shape of his Hollow mask. With a roar of fury, Ichigo forced Berserker back several steps…and buying enough time for Ichigo to raise Zangetsu over his head in a two-handed grip. Sensing the danger, Illyasviel ran for cover behind a nearby tree some distance to the side, barely making it in time as Ichigo shouted "Getsuga Tensho!"

The resulting blast of white light pulverised the road in front of him. At the last moment, Berserker had regained his footing and attempted to block the attack, resulting in a multi-coloured blast of light as his Noble Phantasm was triggered. "Ichigo!" shouted Rider as she moved to stand by his side. "Stay back Rider! This isn't over yet." Ichigo ordered over his shoulder, holding Zangetsu in a two-handed ready stance. Sure enough, as the smoke began to clear, a shadowy silhouette began to grow increasingly visible, along with sounds of rapidly less-difficult breathing.

"Very good, samurai master. You actually killed Berserker then…but you see, my Berserker is the legendary hero of ancient Greece: Hercules. If you know the story, then you would know that in return for accomplishing the Twelve Labors Hercules was granted immortality as a reward by the gods. That is his Noble Phantasm: God Hand. In other words, you'll have to kill him another twelve times to finish him, having only taken his 'normal' life." Illyasviel smugly gloated from beside the tree.

"Hercules?" Ichigo said in disbelief. "_This is bad…I'm actually facing someone of that calibre? And I have to kill him another twelve times? But I can't use Bankai…not yet!_" he thought angrily to himself. As Berserker roared and charged forward with no signs of injury, Ichigo raised his left hand from Zangetsu's hilt and up to his forehead, and clenching it like a claw, moved it in a dragging fashion over his face. As he did so, a mask completely white on the right side but with ten red, wavy stripes covering the left side and a skull-like arrangement of fang-like teeth over the approximate location of his mouth materialized over his face. Instantly, Ichigo's spiritual pressure turned dark and dangerous, and with a roar that sounded a lot like two people roaring at the same time, Ichigo charged forward to meet Berserker.

"What's with that mask?" Rin wondered aloud. "His aura's changed, as though he's a different being than before." Rider was silent; despite the changes in her Master's aura, she could feel that he was still in complete control of himself. Illyasviel, on the other hand, was outright terrified by the change in Ichigo's eyes: they were black with yellow irises, completely inhuman. "What is he?" she whispered with a mix of awe and fear.

In the meantime, Ichigo had forced Berserker onto the defensive, launching a series of hit-and-run strikes with Hollowfication-enhanced shunpo; while Berserker managed to block Zangetsu's strikes, his chest and arms were increasingly covered in wounds caused by Ichigo's spiritual pressure trailing behind and surrounding Zangetsu's blade. Among the observers, only Saber, Rider, and Archer (in spiritual form) noticed that Ichigo wasn't even stepping on the ground anymore, but was seemingly standing on thin air a few inches above the ground, and was using this same technique to attack Berserker with superior speed and ability.

Finally spotting an opening, Berserker swung his axe with a roar of fury…only to fall for Ichigo's feint, the latter appearing behind Berserker in an instant. "Too slow…" Ichigo said as he swung Zangetsu and bisected Berserker from hip to shoulder, resulting in an explosion of power as God Hand was triggered again. As the smoke cleared, Ichigo leapt clear, landing in between Rider and the cloud of smoke and dust that hid the recovering Berserker from view. Turning he gripped Zangetsu with both hands and stood ready to meet Berserker's charge…and was caught by surprise when said Servant charged forward with an unexpected speed and surrounded by a blazing red aura, roaring with fury.

"What?" Ichigo asked in surprise as he was forced to again resort to a two-handed block; even then, he was forced to his knees and unleashed another, even more powerful blast of displaced air. "_Impossible! I'm wearing my mask and he's overpowering me? At this rate, I have no choice but to use Bankai!_" he thought desperately to himself, when for the first time in a long while, a being similar to Zangetsu but less well-received spoke to him in his head. "_You know King, there is another option if you don't want to go Bankai._" Hollow Ichigo said in a bored tone. "_You mean Cero? I think I'd rather take my chances._" Ichigo snapped back. "_Stop being so stubborn, King! Cero is just another part of your power, like your mask. You'll learn to use it someday, just like you learned how to use your mask, despite your initial revulsion. Why not now?_" Hollow Ichigo said in an irritated tone.

"Damn it…" Ichigo grated as he realized he had no choice. Uncurling an index finger from Zangetsu's hilt and leaving it pointed at Berserker's chest, he charged his spiritual power in the form of three, bright red streams of energy coalescing into a sphere of bright red light at the tip of said index finger. As Berserker's eyes widened in surprise, Ichigo said apologetically "Sorry, but this is my first time using this. Sorry if I go too far…Cero." The resulting blast of red light completely vaporized the upper third of Berserker's body and shot a hole through the clouds in the sky. As Berserker's body toppled to the ground, Ichigo jumped backwards as his mask fell to pieces from his face. In a moment, Rider was holding her weapon and beside her Master, who was breathing hard by this point. "Are you alright, Ichigo?" Rider asked with concern evident in her voice. "I'm fine." Ichigo replied. "_I need to refine my control over my spiritual power. That blast consumed more power than it should have._" Ichigo thought to himself.

As they stood there, Berserker regenerated and stood up, gazing at Ichigo with undisguised fury on his face. "_Shit, I'm going to have to use Bankai…_" Ichigo began to silently say to himself when an angry Illyasviel shouted at Berserker "That's enough Berserker! He's killed you three times already! We need to retreat and come up with a strategy!" Rather than retreat and obey his Master, Berserker roared in defiance and pointed his axe at Ichigo in a direct challenge. "So you want to keep fighting? Bring it on!" Ichigo accepted the Servant's challenge, his spiritual power flaring in a brilliant blue aura as he prepared to use Bankai.

"That's enough Berserker!" Illyasviel shouted, her Command Spells flaring brilliantly, one of them quickly fading away into nothingness. "We're leaving!" With a final roar of defiance, Berserker vanished. Illyasviel looked at Rin and company and disdainfully dismissed them before turning to Ichigo and Rider…and to everyone's surprise, she curtsied with obvious respect. "I acknowledge your power, samurai master." She said before turning to leave. "Live, and let us meet again." She finished before vanishing into the night.

With a sigh, Ichigo restrained his spiritual power and rested Zangetsu one-handed in a relaxed fashion over a shoulder. "Now then…" he began, turning to face Rin, Shiro, and Saber; Saber in particular took up a defensive stance despite not being fully-healed herself. In response, Rider took up a position before her Master, her weapon ready for use in her hands.

"_Wait, Rider._" Ichigo silently told his Servant. "_I want to talk to them first. Let them make the first move, but Emiya-san's with them. He seems reasonable, so give me a chance first._"

"_Understood, Ichigo._" Rider replied, though her stance remained unchanged.

"Are you really going to fight someone who saved your life?" Ichigo asked Saber. "Anyone who raises their sword before my Master is an enemy, especially another Master; if you want to talk, then lower your sword first." Saber replied.

"Fair enough." Ichigo responded, sheathing Zangetsu behind him. "Now it's your turn." He challenged Saber to do likewise. After a moment, she lowered her invisible sword, and at the same time, Rider relaxed her stance. "Now then, shall we have a chat, Emiya-san and company?" Ichigo cautiously began.

"Wait a minute…" began Rin when suddenly Shiro interrupted. "That's fine by me, Kurosaki-san." Shiro responded with a confident and trusting smile on his face. "But would you mind if we moved someplace private?"

Smiling and relaxing in turn, Ichigo replied "Sounds good to me. Where did you have in mind?"

"Let's go to my house then. Sakura should be asleep by now, and Fuji-nee has probably gone home, so we shouldn't be disturbed there."

Gesturing with an arm, Ichigo said "Then lead the way, Emiya-san."

* * *

Well now, that was a long chapter, the longest I've written thus far. No promises that following chapters will be as long or longer though. Now, what can I say: ah yes, Cero. To be honest, I'm surprised Ichigo himself doesn't use Cero in canon, when it's only a logical part of his Hollow powers. Don't worry, I won't be using his uber-Cero from the fight with Ulquiorra and the fourth Bleach movie; that would be absolutely broken as a plot device. But, yes, Ichigo will use Cero from now on, though not as much as he uses Getsuga Tensho. Other notes include Mayuri's interest in Zouken, which is obviously not going to end well for Zouken, and the man's apparent attempt to take advantage of Sakura and Ichigo's relationship. Before anyone asks, yes, this story will have Sakura and Shiro as a couple. Until next time then.

Additional Notes: I'd like to remind my readers that the events of the Fullbring Arc and the current Quincy Blood War Arc do not and will not factor in here. This is, after all, an AU setting where Ichigo recovered his powers after he woke from his coma. I'm not going to bother to shoe horn an explanation for that; let's just go with AU Urahara's personal theory that Hollow Ichigo pulled some stunts to allow Ichigo to keep his power.

Also, Ichigo here is in the pre-Final Getsuga Tensho state. Also his mask has gone back to its pre-Ulquiorra appearance, as he resolved his issues with Hollow Ichigo during his training for the Final Getsuga Tensho.

Lastly, since I forgot to put this in earlier, the part where Sakura feels reassured when Ichigo puts his hand on her head is a bit of initiative on my part, because in my humble opinion, one of Ichigo's greatest traits as a character is his sense of responsibility to his siblings, and the fact that he expects the same from other, older siblings (hence his outrage at Byakuya's willingness to let Rukia be executed, or his anger at Orihime's brother trying to kill her). Sure, he treats his siblings coldly, but if you ever hurt or threaten them, man oh man you are asking for a world of hurt.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, names, and any copyrighted material used in this work. This is a fanfic, period. Everything belongs to their respective owners. Comments and constructive criticism are all very much appreciated.

Chapter 5: The Evil and the Depraved

_Fuyuki City, the Emiya Household_

"Won't you tell us, who and what you are?" Rin asked Ichigo. The three of them were sitting around the table in Shiro's dining room, with Rin, Shiro, and Saber sitting beside each other on one side, and Ichigo and Rider on the other. Upon arriving, Shiro had gone to check up on Sakura, finding her asleep, while Rin, Ichigo, and Rider had seated themselves in an awkward silence as Saber went to make some tea and to put her Master's uneaten dinner (covered and left on the table by Sakura) in the fridge.

"My name is Kurosaki Ichigo; a Substitute Shinigami and Rider's Master." Ichigo answered with a neutral expression on his face. "You're a Shinigami?" Shiro exclaimed in surprise. Nodding, Ichigo replied in a reassuring fashion "That's right, but don't worry, I'm not here to kill anyone. Shinigami are only supposed to kill Humans who disrupt the spiritual balance of the land. Otherwise, we just send the souls who cannot pass over on their own to the Soul Society."

"That's impossible!" Rin vehemently burst out. "If you're a Shinigami, then that must mean you're a spiritual being! It's impossible for a spiritual being to summon a Servant, so how can you be a Master?"

Scowling at her, Ichigo replied "Haven't you been listening? I'm a **Substitute **Shinigami; technically, I'm just a Human who acquired Shinigami powers and the responsibilities of one as well." Pausing thoughtfully, Rin crossed her arms and softly replied "It's possible; even if you have the powers and attributes of a spiritual being, if your 'definition' is still a Human, you can still become a Master…" Looking at Ichigo, she asked "But how did you become a Master? Even Emiya-kun here is mage, albeit a rather amateurish one…" Shiro glanced at Rin with a hurt expression on his face at that comment. "…but you are no mage. So the question is, how?"

After crossing his arms and closing his eyes for a moment, Ichigo finally sighed, opened his eyes, and looked at Rider. "Could you explain, Rider?" Nodding, she replied "I believe I can. Another mage originally tried to summon me, using an artefact connected to my legend to catalyse the summoning process." Rin nodded in agreement, commenting in an off-hand fashion "That's the standard practice for summoning a Servant."

"However, by coincidence, Ichigo's spiritual power was released at about the same time as the ritual was taking place, and this apparently caught the Holy Grail's attention." At that Ichigo looked up to the ceiling and said "Oh yeah, that was when I fought that Lancer Servant." At that Saber started and asked "You fought Lancer?" Ichigo smiled grimly and answered "That's right. He was strong, cutting my hand…but that didn't stop me from kicking his ass." Taken aback, Saber thought to herself "_So he's the one who angered Lancer._"

After a moment, Rider continued "Between releasing his powers to defeat Lancer, and the cut on his hand which served as a symbolic blood offering, the Holy Grail recognized his potential as a Master, binding him to the other mage and challenging them to overcome one another for the right of command. As it turned out, Ichigo emerged as the victor and was given Command Spells as his reward." Nodding, Rin said "It was probably a foregone conclusion. Even if Kurosaki-san isn't a full-fledged Shinigami, if he could fight and defeat a Servant, there's no way a mage could defeat him in a direct confrontation. In that case, Kurosaki-san, even if you are an accidental Master, I still acknowledge you as a Master in this Fifth Holy Grail War."

"Thanks…I think." Ichigo replied cautiously, personally thinking to himself that he didn't need Rin or anyone else's acknowledgement of his status as a Master. Before he could say anything more though, Rin continued and asked "In any case though, Kurosaki-san, why are you fighting for the Holy Grail?"

"Tohsaka-san…" Shiro interrupted. "…isn't a person's wish kind of, well, private?" Shaking her head and looking at Shiro, she said "I'm not asking what he intends to wish for, just his general intentions." Turning back to Ichigo she asked "Well?"

Looking at her with a resolute expression on his face, Ichigo answered "I'm not fighting for the Holy Grail. My mission is to destroy it!" Looking at Rin, Shiro, and Saber's shocked expressions, Ichigo continued "The Holy Grail's power is too great for Humanity to control; we simply aren't ready for the responsibility of doing so. Whether out of the Soul Society's orders or my own personal decision, it cannot be allowed to continue to exist."

"That's not your decision to make." Rin snarled in anger, only for Ichigo to look at her with a scowl on his face. "Then whose is it? Yours?" he asked in a challenging fashion. "If so, answer me this: did you people take responsibility for the disaster in this city ten years ago? A disaster caused when the Holy Grail System malfunctioned and reduced half the city to ashes?" At that Shiro started, and looked down at the table, his mind filled with images of fire, blood, and death. Saber was silent and impassive, but she remembered those last moments from ten years ago, of her previous Master's last, absolute command: "_Saber, destroy the Holy Grail._"

"Well, that was…" Rin fumbled, unable to answer the question. "The Soul Society failed in its responsibility ten years ago thanks to its ignorance of this matter, but not this time. We won't let history repeat itself." "But you can't just destroy the Holy Grail!" Rin burst out with a tone of desperation in her voice. "If you do then generations of duty and tradition will have been for nothing!" Ichigo's face twisted in disgust, and he spat out "Oh sure, I suppose duty and tradition are worth the cost in Human life!"

"And what about you, Rider?" asked Saber all of a sudden. "Are you alright with your Master's objective of destroying the Holy Grail?" The purple-haired Servant merely shrugged and replied "I have no interest in the Holy Grail; if Ichigo seeks its destruction, so be it. I will assist him in the pursuit of this goal."

"I think we've pretty much reached the end of this dialogue…" Saber put in as she noticed Rin slowly falling into a distraught state as her sense of morality increasingly found itself compromised. "…as well as the conclusion that cooperation between us is not possible." She finished with finality.

"It sure looks that way." Ichigo replied before asking "So are you going to let us leave in peace or will you make us fight our way out?"

Shiro began to say something when Saber made it unnecessary. "No. You saved our lives back then, and you have proven yourself as having honourable intentions, even if I cannot support them. On my honour as a knight, I am obliged to let you go in peace. And I have no regrets in doing so."

Ichigo looked at her for a moment with a neutral expression before smiling and responding "A knight's honour, huh? Well, I can respect that. Still, I wonder who you truly are…well, it's not my business anyway. Alright then…"Standing up, Ichigo made a move towards the door "…back to work I guess."

"Work?" asked Shiro in surprise. "That's right. I spend the night patrolling Fuyuki looking for Servants who try to attack people to increase their power. See you at school tomorrow." Ichigo replied, waving a hand in goodbye as he walked towards the door. "Kurosaki-san…" Ichigo paused and looked back at Shiro. "…good luck with that…and also, I'd like to ask a favour from you as well."

* * *

Within Sakura's inner world, White Sakura gazed up at their sickly sky of their inner world, and smiled as she said to herself. "So, he's the one who awakened me? You're quite impressive to say the least, Knight, but I wish you'd hurry up and notice the Queen. After all, you have something similar to me, and more to the point, subdued it as well; hurry and reveal the truth to the Queen already."

* * *

"I think I can manage from here on out." Rin said, looking at Ichigo and Rider over her shoulder. Despite their distaste for one another, Shiro had insisted that Ichigo and Rider escort Rin to her house, arguing that it was dangerous for a young woman to be out alone so late at night, and not to mention the increased danger for her as a Master with an injured Servant. "You don't need to tell me that. I was going to leave soon anyway." Ichigo shot back, looking at Rin with an undecipherable expression on his face.

"What's wrong? Don't tell you're going to give me another high-and-mighty lecture." Rin said sarcastically. Ichigo snorted before replying and said "I was only thinking about how immature you are."

"What was that?" Rin snarled, curling her fists in anger. Looking at her intently, Ichigo answered "I can tell by looking at your eyes. You've never truly handled responsibilities with great consequences if you failed in the past, or seen what happens when great power is misused."

"And I suppose you have?" she replied in a mocking tone, only to be taken aback when Ichigo nodded and answered "You have no idea what me and my allies have gone through, and the consequences if we failed. Even Emiya-san knows more than you. Don't ask me how I know, I just do." As he said this, Ichigo turned and leapt into the air, followed shortly by his Servant saying "I sincerely hope for your sake that you truly understand what you intend to do, Tohsaka-san."

* * *

The following day was cloudy and gloomy; Rider awoke groggily, having had difficulty sleeping; her and Ichigo's sweep of Fuyuki after taking their leave of Rin had revealed nothing unusual or untoward, and Ichigo had decided to call it a night. Rider's sleep however had been disturbed by visions of a mighty city reaching out hopefully to the infinite heavens; what that meant she had no idea, but it left her with a feeling of certain insignificance. Fixing her appearance, she stepped out of her room and was caught by surprise at the sight of Ichigo apparently listening to a black butterfly sitting on the tip of his finger. After a moment, the butterfly fluttered away, and Ichigo turned to see Rider looking at him with a questioning look on her face. Smiling he said, "Just an update from the Soul Society; good morning Rider."

"Good morning, Ichigo." She returned his greeting and taking a seat at the table. "The Soul Society uses butterflies to send messages then?" she asked. Ichigo grunted and answered as he took his seat and prepared a bowl of rice for Rider "That's right; Jigokuchou are used to send and receive messages. It took me a while to learn how use them, but I finally managed to."

"What did they say?" Rider queried as she accepted her rice bowl. "Apparently the Twelfth Division is conducting an operation in the area, and this gloomy weather we're having is a side-effect of that. Just to keep me informed, I guess."

"The Twelfth Division?" she asked again.

"Oh that's right, I haven't told you. The Shinigami are organized into thirteen divisions, each overseen by a captain; altogether they are called the Gotei 13. But while the Gotei 13 represent the majority of the Soul Society's might…in truth, all the lower-ranking Shinigami combined are outweighed by the thirteen captains all together."

"I see…so, which division do you belong to, Ichigo?"

"None; I'm still a living Human, so I don't belong to any division. As a Substitute and someone who's proven himself trustworthy, I have a certain leeway so long as I don't cause any major disturbances or break the Soul Society's laws without reason…not sure how much of that comes from my being a captain-level though." He said with a short laugh.

Rider laughed as well, though it was mostly for show. "_If Ichigo is captain-level, and there are supposed to be thirteen more individuals like that in the Soul Society, and those thirteen are stronger than their entire army, then just how powerful is the Soul Society?_" she wondered to herself.

* * *

"Kurosaki-san!" called Shiro, stopping Ichigo at the entrance to the classroom; the latter was leaving to take another lunch walk around the campus. "Did you want something, Emiya-san?" Ichigo asked. Shiro nodded, and said "I have something I wanted to talk to you about; care to accompany me to the rooftop?"

"Sure, why not?" Ichigo replied. Following Shiro's lead, Ichigo found himself at the rooftop in a few moments. "So, what did you want to talk about?" Ichigo asked.

"I'll get straight to the point: how would you like to team up with me?" Shiro asked with a serious expression on his face, catching Ichigo off-guard. "Huh? Hey, wait a minute, you're after the Holy Grail aren't you? Why do want to join me if you know I fully intend to destroy it?"

After looking uncomfortable for a moment, Shiro sighed and looked away before answering "I was a survivor of that disaster from ten years ago." As Ichigo's eyes widened in surprise, Shiro continued "When this war began, I only wanted to ensure that the Holy Grail didn't end up in the hands of a monster…but I've been thinking about what you said last night, and I agree. The Holy Grail is a power we simply aren't prepared to take responsibility for, and therefore shouldn't exist in this world. And besides, you're taking the effort to protect those who aren't involved in this war. Someone who would do that is a step-up in my book."

"I see…" Ichigo said, nodding slowly, but then asking "What about your Servant, though? I doubt she approves of my goal." Shiro smiled sadly and said "That's true, but just leave it to me. I'll convince her…somehow." Privately, Ichigo doubted the knight-like Servant would be so easy to convince, but he decided not to mention that and simply said "Alright then, I accept your offer." To his surprise, Shiro offered a hand, and after a moment's hesitation, he shook the offered hand as well. "Good to have you on the team, Kurosaki-san." Shiro said in approval.

"Same here, Emiya-san." Ichigo replied.

* * *

Zouken confidently walked back into the Matou Manor grounds; his preparations had finally been completed: his will transferring control of the Matou assets to Sakura had been legalized, and his alibi for disappearing from the scene – an off-country trip that he had arranged would end in disaster – was in place. All that was left now was to go into hiding and wait for Sakura and that Emiya boy to get together and have children of their own. Once that was done, he would resurface with a new identity, worm his way back into a position of influence, and take advantage of the situation to claim the Holy Grail.

"I don't know who you are, but you've got a lot of nerve to break in here." Zouken said in a deceptively calm voice just as he reached the foot of the stairs leading to the Matou Manor's front doors. Within moments, a humanoid figure had silhouetted itself against the wall near the estate's gates, and stepping forwards, a coating of some kind crumbled away from the man's entire body. The man was wearing a black and white kimono and a white haori over it. A katana was sheathed directly in front of the man's waist, with a pink hilt and a cloth-wrapped guard with several leaf-like protrusions immediately before the blade. But what was most unusual with the man was his…accessories. All visible skin had been painted white, and apart from his nose and part of his chin, the centre of his face had been painted black in a large, cross-like fashion. His ears were covered by short, wide, gold cones, and his entire face was framed by a golden frame that extended from his chin in a similar fashion to an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh's false beard. The man's blue hair was also styled in a similar manner to a Pharaoh's crown, sloping down from the top of his head and framing his face. And most disturbingly, the man's gold-painted teeth were bared in a very unusual smile.

"So, you knew I was there? I'm very impressed, your spiritual awareness is very commendable." The man said in a condescending tone. "Who the hell are you?" Zouken demanded, completely unfazed, though he slightly shaken by what seemed to be an insane glint in the man's golden eyes. "My apologies…" the man said, spreading his arms in an apologetic manner, and Zouken noted the extremely long, blue-painted fingernail of the right middle finger. "…my name is Mayuri Kurotsuchi, Captain of the Twelfth Division and the President of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute."

"And to what do I owe the honour of meeting a Shinigami captain?" Zouken asked, already awakening his familiars just in case. "I'll get straight to the point." Mayuri began, crossing his arms thoughtfully. "To be honest, I never had much interest in you mages, having considered you inferior and primitive compared to your Quincy descendants."

"_Quincy?_" Zouken thought to himself in alarm. He knew what they were of course; they were descendants of mages who lacked magic circuits and used other means to perform their own unique variant of magecraft. Scattered around the world, the Quincy had distanced themselves in resentment from their mage ancestors, but were relatively rare, hence them being ignored by the Mages Association, the Church, and other organizations with knowledge of magecraft…except in Japan, where the Quincy had mysteriously been wiped out two centuries ago. The few survivors had refused to make contact with the mages, and combined with the general antipathy between mage and Quincy, nothing was known of who killed the majority of the Quincy in Japan. "_Did this man, no, did the Shinigami have a role in the Japanese Quincy's demise? I can't let my guard down…he's dangerous regardless of the situation._"

"However, this Fifth Holy Grail War has sparked my interest in you mages, and my preliminary investigation has only encouraged my interest. And that's where you come in." Mayuri finished, oblivious to Zouken's thoughts, placing a hand on his waist and pointing a finger at Zouken. "How would you like to become my newest test subject? Rest assured, I promise to make it as painless as possible."

After a moment of silence, Zouken briefly closed his eyes before replying "Is that so now? I'm sorry to say but I'm going to have to refuse your offer." As he said this, the shadows around him and Mayuri began to writhe as his familiars emerged and hungrily regarded the Shinigami captain. As the closest familiars began to circle around him, Mayuri sighed and shook his head. Then he released his spiritual power, encasing himself in a brilliant pink aura that reduced the closest of the surrounding familiars to ashes upon contact and causing the others to fall back in fear. "I'll make you regret that decision." Mayuri said grimly. Zouken for his part took a step back in surprise before gasping as he looked around in shock; the moment Mayuri released his power, the Matou bounded field collapsed as a barrier simultaneously activated: this was a trap. Before he could consider this, Mayuri grabbed his Zanpakutou's hilt, drew it and holding it blade down in front of him, he whispered "Rip, Ashisogi Jizou." In an instant, the sword glowed and transformed into a deformed, serpentine trident with golden blades with a guard shaped like a baby with clasped hands. After switching his grip into a ready position, Mayuri blurred and reappeared right next to a surprised Zouken, and slashed downwards from shoulder to waist.

* * *

Mayuri's spiritual pressure was felt by spiritually aware individuals across the city. In Castle von Einzbern, Illyasviel dropped her teacup, and gazed out and over the balcony railing in surprise. In Kotomine Church, Kirei accidentally dropped a bottle of wine as he felt the surge of power through the air, while Gilgamesh merely smiled and silently wondered to himself "_To think that gods still exist in this time and age._" Lancer and Berserker felt the surge of power, but didn't really care; to them, it was just another opponent to fight, though second priority compared to the orange-haired samurai with a cleaver-like sword. Saber and Assassin merely ignored it stoically, while Caster's attempt to view the source of the power surge remotely was foiled by a barrier of unusual design and power. Rin, who was washing her face, whirled to face the general direction of the power surge and silently ordered Archer to investigate. Sakura too felt the power surge, but was reassured by White Sakura that there was no need for alarm. Rider was initially concerned until Ichigo silently told her "_It's just Captain Kurotsuchi of the Twelfth Division. Leave him be. He's not the kind of guy who takes interruptions lightly._"

"_I understand, Ichigo._" She replied.

* * *

Mayuri laughed softly, holding Ashisogi Jizou in a relaxed but ready fashion in one hand. "How very interesting…" he commented gleefully, as he observed Zouken from a safe distance. A portion of the ground was covered with ashes; almost all of Zouken's immediately available familiars had perished in a valiant but fruitless effort to kill Mayuri, but had been destroyed upon contact with Mayuri's spiritual power. The survivors had fused with Zouken, healing his wounds and counteracting Ashisogi Jizou's special ability. "…to think that those disgusting things could not only be used to heal you but also to counteract Ashisogi Jizou's special ability. It would appear that my assessment of you as an appropriate experimental specimen is most correct. Now then, won't you stop this pointless resistance? Look at it this way: sooner or later, you will die, and there's a good chance the Central 46 will have you tried and punished for your crimes against the sanctity of the soul. On the other hand, if you become my test subject, I'll keep you from the Central 46' hands. So, what do you say? Won't you surrender peacefully?"

"Don't you dare take a moral high-ground over me, you damned Shinigami!" Zouken snarled angrily. Although all of his ready familiars had been destroyed or consumed, and awakening the others would take time he didn't have, he wouldn't let himself be talked down on by an obviously insane Shinigami who was apparently little different from him. Ignoring Mayuri's eyes narrowing dangerously, Zouken continued "I may not have proof, but I know you were involved one way or another in what happened to the Japanese Quincy, and you are ultimately no different from me!"

Before he could continue his venom-filled tirade, Mayuri raised his left hand, palm facing a tree to the side, and silently fired a Kidou that blew the tree to splinters, abruptly silencing Zouken. "Test subjects shouldn't be so noisy." Mayuri grated out angrily. Zouken smirked and replied "Are you going to try and justify yourself now, Shinigami?"

"I have no need to justify myself to you! Nemu!" Mayuri shouted in response, and in instant, a young woman with long, braided, black hair and wearing a short, black kimono with white gloves appeared next to Mayuri, carrying a heavy wooden case. "Nemu, subdue him." Mayuri ordered; in response Nemu lowered the case, and moving impossibly fast, proceeded to pummel Zouken in brutal hand-to-hand combat. Mayuri for his part opened the case, exposing a gilded javelin with ornate inscriptions inscribed along its length. Picking it up with his right hand, Mayuri took up a stance, and aiming carefully, threw the javelin with unerring precision towards Zouken and Nemu. At the last moment, Nemu dodged manoeuvring such that the javelin pierced Zouken through his chest where his heart should be.

As Nemu backed away, Zouken tottered and with black blood staining his lips rasped at Mayuri "Don't think that this is enough to kill me." Mayuri snorted and said "Kill you? Why would I kill such a valuable test subject like you?" Even as he said this, the javelin glowed and vanished…and white lightning began to arc over Zouken's body even as silvered spikes tore themselves out of his torso. Writhing in agony, Zouken raved "No! I can't die or be sealed here! Not now! I still have to see her first! No!" Whatever it was he trying to say ended when with flare of silvery light, the seal was completed. All that was left of Zouken was a stone tablet engraved on one side with a humanoid face contorted in rage and frustration.

Picking up the tablet, Nemu handed it to Mayuri as he slowly arrived. Regarding it for a moment in his hand, he handed it back to Nemu before opening a Senkaimon. Several Jigokuchou fluttered out, followed shortly by Akon and several other Twelfth Division members. "Akon, retrieve the remaining familiars and all the written data. Nemu, we're withdrawing." Mayuri ordered as he stepped through the Senkaimon and sheathed his Zanpakutou, with Nemu carrying Zouken's tablet following in close order.

* * *

Wow, this was another long chapter…now then, on to the notes. Ichigo seems a bit high-and-mighty in this chapter, until you realize that he already knows of another 'wish machine': the Hougyoku, which has the power to materialize the desires of those around it. Ichigo knows all too well that even partly transcendental beings like Shinigami could not handle the responsibility brought by the power of the Hougyoku, hence his lack of acceptance of the power of the Holy Grail.

And there's Zouken and Mayuri; at first glance there doesn't seem much difference between the two of them, until you realize that whereas Zouken acts only out of selfish intentions to see a long dead woman again, Mayuri acts in the name of a greater good. Yes, both lack ethics and morality…but while Mayuri is certainly 'evil', he is not 'depraved'. His acts advance the science of the Soul Society and is used to benefit the Soul Society as a whole. Zouken on the other hand just does what he does out of a selfish desire to live long enough to see his dead love interest again – who apparently did not reciprocate his feelings (as far as I know). Not to mention that while Mayuri certainly does treat Nemu brutally…he doesn't actually condone sexual harassment or worse on her. Try it; he'd probably kill you for it. Contrast that with how Zouken and how he turns a blind eye to what Shinji puts Sakura through. If any of you think that Zouken is morally/ethically superior to Mayuri, all I can say is: you are DEPRAVED.

Additional Notes: Before any of you bring up that event in Hueco Mundo where Mayuri revives Nemu off-screen...just let me say I cannot believe you people did not realize that all Mayuri actually did was CPR. Bunch of half-wits...


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, names, and any copyrighted material used in this work. This is a fanfic, period. Everything belongs to their respective owners. Comments and constructive criticism are all very much appreciated.

Last update for a while, seeing as I'll be busy for the rest of the week…

Chapter 6: A Halcyon Day

"You have no school today?" asked Rider, her voice and facial expression betraying her surprise. Ichigo grunted in reply from over the dining table and said "Apparently they're checking the school's gas lines; with all the gas leaks recently, they want to make sure the school is safe for continued use." Although neither of them said a word, both Rider and Ichigo knew that the gas leaks were only a convenient excuse used by those ignorant of the Holy Grail War, and that the true cause of all those incidents were Servants attacking Humans to fuel their power.

"So what's the plan today?" Rider asked, taking a drink from her coffee cup while Ichigo cleared the table. "Nothing really; I plan to simply relax this morning, and we could go out for lunch later on. Tonight though, we go on patrol; Captain Kurotsuchi's spiritual pressure may have shell-shocked the other Masters and their Servants into inactivity last night, but that's not going to last." Ichigo replied, taking the dirty dishes and everything else to the sink. Meanwhile Rider picked up the remote and turned the TV on, going through the channels in a bored and uninterested fashion…until she found a soap opera that not only sparked her curiosity, but captured her attention intently. Ichigo on the other hand, was less than amused about the dialogue he was hearing from the kitchen. "_Honestly, do things like that even happen in reality? I don't understand what people find so entertaining in those shows._" He silently complained to himself as he washed up.

* * *

"Saber, Sakura, do you want to go out today?" Shiro asked the two of the three women sitting around the dining room table after he finished washing up. "There's no school today, so I thought we could go out and find something to do."

"Hey, what about me? Honestly, leaving nee-san out of the fun…" Taiga complained, turning away from the news channel. Shiro smiled sadly and said "But Fuji-nee, don't you have tests to grade or something?" Pouting, Taiga whined "Even so, you should still have asked me! Shiro, I'm so disappointed in you!"

While Sakura sought to calm down the annoyed woman, Saber turned to Shiro and asked "What are we supposed to do while we're out?" Taken aback by the question, Shiro fumbled before answering "Well, anything you find enjoyable I suppose."

"Enjoyment was never a goal of mine. It tends to be a distraction." Saber replied in a deadpan manner, further taking Shiro aback. "Saber-san…" began Taiga in a sisterly fashion. "…you're going to burn out if you don't take some time off from time to time. You should just accept Shiro's suggestion and enjoy yourself once in a while."

Personally, Saber doubted she would 'burn out', but ceded to Taiga's argument after a moment's thought. "Very well, I understand. I shall take this chance to enjoy myself." Smiling to herself, Sakura stood up and asked "Shall I go and change into something more presentable then, senpai?"

Shiro nodded and replied "Sure thing, but there's no need to rush; take your time to get ready." As Sakura walked off to her room, Shiro turned to Saber and asked "What about you Saber? Are you going to go out looking out like that?" Saber looked at Shiro with a question on her face before asking in reply "Is there something wrong with what I'm wearing?"

Taken aback yet again, Shiro again fumbled before replying "Well no, it's just that…oh never mind. Those clothes suit you anyway, and they're not really informal, so I suppose it should be alright." As Saber nodded her assent and looked away from Shiro, Taiga sighed and said "Honestly, I'm so jealous; you guys can go off and have some fun while I have to sit here and do schoolwork. In any case…" at that Taiga looked at Shiro as he sat down at the dining table and told him "…don't spend too much money, and don't you dare do anything inappropriate to Saber-san or to Sakura-chan." Looking slightly offended, Shiro spluttered before asking in an outraged tone "What are you saying Fuji-nee?"

"Don't worry Fujimura-sensei…" said Sakura from the doorframe, having changed into a white shirt, jeans, rubber shoes, and a sky blue polo shirt that she left open giving her a very casual feel that merely seemed to accent her features. "…senpai isn't like that all."

"Well, as long as all of you understand that, it's alright then." Taiga said, turning back to the television. For her part, Saber had no interest in the way the conversation had taken. If Shiro wanted that kind of thing from her, she would oblige, though she would take one of his Command Spells from him in return. Thankfully though, Shiro was nothing of the sort; if he had been that type of person, she'd never have responded to his summons.

* * *

"So Rider, what do you want to eat?" Ichigo asked the purple-haired woman as they stood in line at a fast food joint near the supermarket, Ichigo intending to go stock up on groceries now that the chance had presented itself. "Anything is fine, Ichigo." She replied. "That'll do as a response, I suppose." He responded, ordering two orders of cheeseburgers with large fries and drinks when his turn at the counter finally came. After paying for the meals, he took the trays to the table where Rider was waiting, pointedly ignoring the stares and whispers from other diners at their unusual appearances: Ichigo with his spiky orange hair and Rider with her long purple hair. As they ate, Ichigo asked "So Rider is there anything you want to do or buy, or someplace you want to go visit?" Nodding, she pointed to a store across the street and replied "I want to go and visit that bookstore over there."

"Is that so now?" Ichigo said with a smile. "That's a side of you I never expected, Rider." Ichigo chewed on his food thoughtfully, thinking of half-remembered dreams about two girls with purple hair who resembled Rider, all pervaded with a sense of regret and sadness. "_Rider's past? If I remember the story right, Medusa had two sisters, who she killed when she finally fell into madness…_" Ichigo thought to himself, his anger building at the knowledge that the jealousy of the Olympians had been behind all that. True, the Soul Society wasn't exactly a paragon of virtue, but even they wouldn't do things out of spite. "_Bastards…they deserved to be forgotten and have their existence and power reduced to footnotes of history…_"

Rider was also thinking of her dreams; she had dreamed of the infinite city again the previous night, though she was no longer alone: two figures, one in black, the other in white, were standing there with her, and while the details of their appearances eluded her, she remembered that they seemed to want to speak with her, though it had seemed the invisible walls between them had yet to reach the point wherein communication would be possible. Finishing her meal at the same time as Ichigo, he raised an eyebrow at her and asked "Shall we get going?" Nodding, she replied in a teasing fashion "Yes, unless you want to eat some more." Snorting in mock amusement, Ichigo stood and led the way out.

* * *

Elsewhere, Shiro, Saber, and Sakura were walking out of another fast food joint…only to cross paths with Shinji, who as usual, was surrounded by his fan girls. "_What a bunch of morons…_" snarled White Sakura in Sakura's mind and Sakura disturbingly found herself struggling to control a sense of anger and hatred as well as a desire to reduce Shinji to a lifeless pile of blood, flesh, and bone. "Emiya, fancy seeing you here with my sister and some blonde foreigner with you. You're more of a lady's man that I thought you were." Shinji taunted with a condescending tone. "_Who is this man? Everything about him rubs me the wrong way._" Saber thought with a sense of disgust. Shiro however ignored the taunt and greeted Shinji with surprising politeness "Lady's man? I was just taking Saber and Sakura out to town, that's all."

"Saber; is that the blonde's name?" Shinji asked redundantly, his smug tone just increasing Saber's dislike of him. Before she could reply though, Sakura turned and began to walk away from Shinji and his group, saying "Senpai, let's go elsewhere." Surprised, Shiro began to say, "Sakura, that's…" when Shinji stepped forwards with an irritated expression on his face and grabbed Sakura's left arm while saying "Now wait just a minute; you may live somewhere else, but I'm still your older brother, so show me some damned respect…"

What happened next was completely unexpected; before Shinji could finish what he was saying, Sakura grabbed him by the wrist with her other hand, squeezing with inhuman strength and forcing him to let go. At the same time, she looked at him over her shoulder, her eyes filled with such cold fire that Shinji gasped as fear and terror seemed to grip his entire being. After a tense moment, Sakura let go, turned and continued to walk away. "Hey wait, Sakura!" Shiro said as he and Saber moved to catch up her, leaving Shinji there massaging his wrist, anger and humiliation replacing fear and terror. Regarding the girls standing behind him whispering amongst themselves, a rather twisted means of venting his anger began to come to mind.

"Sakura, did you have to be so hard on him?" Shiro asked Sakura once they were out of earshot. "I'm sorry senpai, it's just that I couldn't control myself back then. It won't happen again." She answered with a smile. "Okay then." Shiro replied, moving on from the matter. Sakura however, was disturbed; it wasn't that White Sakura had acted on her own, taking control of her body, but rather she - Sakura and not White Sakura - had seemingly acted and drawn out their power on her own by instinct. "_You don't understand do you, Queen?_" came the disappointed voice of her alter-ego. "_What was that?_" she thought back, but White Sakura did not reply. Saber was also silently concerned; for a while back there, she had sensed an unusual power coming from Sakura. It was completely different from a mage's power, and seemed closer to her own or any other spiritual being's power. "_Just what was that?_" she thought to herself silently, regarding Sakura in silence, though Sakura's aura seemed to have returned to that of an ordinary Human.

* * *

At the bookstore across the street, Rider perused the romance novels shelves with great interest, while Ichigo looked on in disbelief. Sighing he began to look around, when he felt someone tugging on his sleeve. Looking down, he was surprised to see a twelve year old girl with silver hair and red irises in fine, purple clothes and noble bearing who upon seeing she now had his attention, curtsied and said "Good day, samurai master."

Eyes widening in surprise, Ichigo quickly recovered and said "You're that Master from two night nights ago." Smiling in delight that he had remembered her, the girl clapped her hands and introduced herself "My name is Illyasviel von Einzbern, but you can just call me Illya, samurai master." Despite himself, Ichigo began to feel a certain sense of protectiveness over this girl, silently thinking to himself "_Such a young girl to be saddled with the responsibility of a Master…_"

"Illya-chan, was it? In that case, my name is Kurosaki Ichigo, but you can just call me Ichigo." Ichigo introduced himself…and found himself struggling to hold back his irritation when Illya made a common mistake "Ichigo? As in strawberry? You have such a sweet name, Ichigo nii-san!"

"So, to what do I owe the honour?" Ichigo asked cautiously; this girl was still a Master after all, and the Master of that monster Berserker. "Nothing in particular, I was just walking through town when I saw you here, so I thought I should introduce myself." Illya replied, shaking her head. "Ichigo, I'd like to buy these..." Rider began to say from the counter nearby when she was brought up short when she recognized the girl as a Master. Before she could say anything, Ichigo simply said to her silently "_Calm down…there's no need to fight at the moment, and in any case, it's daytime. I doubt Illya-chan or her Servant will attack._" Pulling herself together, Rider silently replied as Ichigo walked over and paid for her books "_I understand, Ichigo._"

"Now, then…" began Ichigo, as he and Rider turned back to a waiting Illya from the counter. "…do you have anything in particular to talk about or want?" he asked. Scowling, Illya replied "How rude! The gentleman should be the one to entertain the lady!" Rider smiled as Ichigo was taken aback, then backing her Master up, she asked Illya "Then would you like some ice cream, Illya-chan?" Her face brightening, Illya clamped onto Rider's arm and joyfully said "Yes, I'd like some ice cream, purple Servant!" Laughing softly, Rider told Illya as the latter dragged her off to a nearby ice cream store "Just call me Rider, Illya-chan." Left standing in front of the bookstore, Ichigo looked after them in open-mouthed astonishment before he scowled and stormed after them, calling out "Hey, wait up! Just who do you think is going to pay for your ice cream anyway?"

Finally catching up to the pair (and painfully aware that the three of them looked like a foreign family of three with their unusual hair colours), Ichigo and company finally made it to Illya's chosen ice cream store…at the same time as Shiro and company did. "Good day, Kurosaki-san and Rider-san!" Shiro greeted them warmly as he saw them. "Shiro!" warned Saber, noticing Illya hanging onto Rider's arm. "Oh, it's you onii-chan and Saber." Illya noted with a faint note of disdain. "Kurosaki-san, this is?" Shiro asked Ichigo with a note of concern in his voice. Ichigo shrugged and replied "We met her by chance while we were out, and Rider here offered to buy her some ice cream; it's not like I can just leave a little girl hanging, can I?"

"That's true." Shiro said, nodding with understanding. "Good day, Kurosaki-senpai." Sakura said, bowing shortly to Ichigo; his actions toward the little girl (whom Saber and her beloved Emiya-senpai apparently recognized with a degree of apprehension) simply reinforcing her brotherly views of the man. "Good day to you to too, Sakura-san." Ichigo returned the greeting with a nod of his head.

Smiling happily that she had been remembered, she fully introduced herself "Yes, you remembered. My name is Sakura Matou."

"I hope your brother is treating you well, Sakura-san." Ichigo said with a note of concern in his voice as they all entered the store. Sakura was ominously silent for a moment before replying "Truth be told, I haven't been seeing him lately; I've been living with Emiya-senpai for two days now."

"Living together? With Emiya-san?" Ichigo said in surprise, his eyes widening. "Don't get the wrong idea, Kurosaki-san." Shiro said, trying to smooth over any misunderstandings before they could take root. Nodding, Sakura backed Shiro up, adding "My grandfather went on a trip recently, and allowed me to live with Emiya-senpai…" she trailed off, realizing this wasn't exactly helping Shiro's case. Fortunately, Ichigo simply held up his hands in a placating manner and said "Sorry to have bothered you, but you don't need to explain; I have no interest in your private life. I was just surprised that's all."

Sighing with relief, Shiro said "Well, the school's fine with it; well, Fuji-nee is at least." "Fuji-nee?" Ichigo asked. "You don't mean Fujimura-sensei, do you?" Nodding, Shiro said "She's not really my sister, but she is my legal guardian, being my late father's friend and all."

Surprised at that last comment, Ichigo began to apologize for bringing up such a bad memory, but Shiro would hear nothing of it. "You didn't intentionally bring the matter up, so you didn't cause any offense, so no need to apologize, Kurosaki-san." Before Ichigo could say anymore, Rider spoke up and said to Ichigo "Ichigo; Illya-chan and I have made our choice. Do you want ice cream too? Well, in either case, you're still paying though." Scowling at that last comment, Ichigo made to join Rider and Illya at the counter.

* * *

"_Are you sure about this, Archer?_" Rin silently asked her Servant.

"_Yes, there's no doubt about it. Kurosaki, von Einzbern, Emiya, and Matou are here together. Rider and Saber are with them as well. I see no sign of Berserker, though that's not surprising. It's unlikely in the extreme that von Einzbern would let him materialize here, seeing as he's not what one would call very easy to fit in._" Archer replied silently.

"_Could they be conspiring together? In any case, fall back for now Archer. There are too many variables in this for us to attempt to take advantage of the situation._" Rin ordered after a moment's pause. Resisting the urge to tell his Master that situations like this are the specialty of the Archer-class, Archer sped off a nearby rooftop to re-join his Master.

* * *

"Well then, see you at school tomorrow, Kurosaki-san." Shiro said to Ichigo as they made to head for their separate ways. "The same to you, Emiya-san, and Sakura-san." Ichigo said in response. As Shiro and company headed off, Illya also began to walk away, when Ichigo called after her "Illya-chan!" Turning, Illya was surprised when Ichigo knelt down and tied a charm around her wrist. "There you go…that's a protective charm that should come in handy." Struck silent for a moment, Illya looked away sadly and asked in a soft voice "Why? We're supposed to be enemies, and neither of us will hold back against the other…so, why?"

Running a hand through his hair, Ichigo sighed as he stood up and replied "Let's just say my instincts tell me that we'll be seeing more of each other before this war ends…and not just as enemies. So call this a precautionary measure." Looking up at Ichigo in surprise, Illya smiled, and said as she ran off waving a hand in farewell "In that case, don't you die either, Ichigo nii-san! And don't forget that Berserker wants a rematch too!"

"Sure thing…though I'm not sure I'm thrilled with that last part…" Ichigo said, waving a hand in farewell as well. He turned and found Rider looking at him with a smile on her face. "What's wrong?" he asked, slightly uncomfortable about the smile. "Nothing…" she replied, before heading off back to their apartment. "…I was just thinking to myself that you really are something else." Sighing again, Ichigo replied before moving to walk beside her "Sure, I am. And before we go home, we need to go and buy some groceries first."

* * *

Well, there you go. I'm not sure how well I wrote this chapter, seeing this is the first time I've done anything with a slice-of-life theme. As for notes…well, Sakura's actions are just a hint to the true nature of her powers (and the way she masters them may or may not be a surprise to you). As for the charm that Ichigo gave Illya, it's actually the same one Isshin gave him. And it's going to play an important part later on. Well then, until next time folks.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, names, and any copyrighted material used in this work. This is a fanfic, period. Everything belongs to their respective owners. Comments and constructive criticism are all very much appreciated.

Sorry for the long wait, but I've been busy lately.

Chapter 7: To Chain the Beast

_The Soul Society, the Seireitei, First Division Barracks, Captains Assembly Hall_

"Based on information sent by the Substitute Shinigami Ichigo Kurosaki as well as additional information acquired from our investigations…" Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi began, addressing the other captains as a holographic diagram of Fuyuki City's spiritual network overlaid by an obviously artificial construct rotated between the twin ranks of the captains and before the seated Captain-Commander.

"…we have now obtained a more complete understanding of the so-called Holy Grail and its workings. However, this brings up two new complications. The first is more of an inconvenience rather than a problem." Captain Kurotsuchi continued, pulling out a pointer with which he pointed out key junctions in the diagram. "The fact is that simply destroying the system by brute force would be counter-productive; it is intimately linked to Fuyuki City's spiritual network, and brute forcing its removal would seriously damage that network."

"And the second complication?" asked Captain Jushirou Ukitake of the Thirteenth Division.

"Patience, Captain Ukitake." Captain Kurotsuchi answered, turning to Captain Ukitake for a moment. "To understand the second complication requires an understanding of both the Holy Grail War and the Holy Grail's workings itself." Turning back to the diagram, Captain Kurotsuchi continued. "The Holy Grail War is a battle between seven individuals chosen by the Holy Grail and given the right to summon a Servant. A Servant is a virtual copy of heroic individuals from Humanity's past, present, and future. The ones who summon them, known as Masters, are each given the right to give an absolute command three times; as long as at least one absolute command remains un-given, the Servant is bound to their Master. Servants are spiritual beings, but unlike 'normal' spiritual beings, they require an external supply of spiritual power that is provided by their Masters, but an alternate source of spiritual power would be the souls of Humans." This caused a stir among the captains.

"I assume Kurosaki is taking steps to curtail this?" asked Captain Sui-Feng. Captain Kurotsuchi nodded before replying "Indeed. His report included a satisfactory account of operations against a fellow Master."

"A fellow Master?" asked Captain Hitsugaya.

"Yes. It would seem that our Substitute Shinigami was chosen to be a Master and after accidentally summoning a Servant, is now involved in this war along with said Servant. He assures us, however, that both he and his Servant are dedicated to destroying the Holy Grail at the conclusion of this conflict." Captain Kurotsuchi paused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully before musing out loud "His Servant would make an excellent test subject…"

"She will be no such thing." Captain Yamamoto interrupted sternly. "Ichigo Kurosaki has already requested amnesty and post-war assistance on behalf of his Servant, Rider. As one willing to fight as our ally, we have a responsibility and an obligation to reward her for her services. Find a way to ensure her stability before this is over; am I understood, Captain Kurotsuchi?"

"I understand, Captain-Commander." Captain Kurotsuchi answered, then after a soft sigh continued his explanation of the Holy Grail. "The seven Masters and their Servants fight another to provide the power source for the Holy Grail; whenever a Servant is killed, they become energy, energy which is used to power the Holy Grail. Once six Servants have been slain, the Holy Grail appears before the last Master and Servant. This is actually only half the equation; the 'lesser' Holy Grail, the combined energy of the six fallen Servants that will be fed into the 'greater' Holy Grail. Once combined, the Holy Grail will have the ability to break the laws of reality itself to grant one wish apiece to the victors of the war." After a brief pause, he continued.

"However, should the energy of seven and not just six Servants be used to power the Holy Grail, the Holy Grail becomes much more than this. In fact, doing so opens a 'tunnel' to the origin of all things. And apparently this was the original reason the entire system was designed in the first place."

"The origin of all things? Now that's a pointless pursuit. Even if you went back to the absolute beginning, doing so would achieve absolutely nothing. Just because all things have a single absolute beginning and absolute end doesn't mean everything would follow a pre-set path. There are infinite routes between the absolutes." Captain Kyouraku commented with a note of exasperation in his voice. "Looks like the old story from the Quincy that their mage ancestors were seeking the origin of all things was true after all; what a bunch of misguided idiots…"

"This leads to our second complication…" Captain Kurotsuchi began anew, his eyes narrowing. "Although such was the original design of the Holy Grail system based on our investigations, analysis of the system in its current state has uncovered something disturbing. Apparently, an incredibly malevolent being is currently bound to the heart of the whole system. While we have yet to identify this being, we can safely conclude that activating the system will unleash an unspeakable evil on this world."

"The situation has taken a turn for the worse." Captain Yamamoto said, addressing the captains as Captain Kurotsuchi took his place and the diagram turned itself off. "Until we can identify this being and develop counter-measures, our priority is to gather information. Captain Hitsugaya, there will be no need for you or your team to deploy to the living world; while I feel for our Substitute Shinigami, he and his Servant should be sufficient for the task at hand. Regardless, I want all Divisions ready at combat alertness. The same orders apply for the Onmitsukido and the Kidou Corps. Should destroying the Holy Grail prove impossible to prevent or destroy this being from manifesting, we must be ready to deploy in force at a moment's notice; dismissed!"

* * *

_Fuyuki City, Homurahara Gakuen, the Principal's Office_

"My grandfather is dead?" Sakura asked the principal as she sat before his desk, shock evident in her voice. She had been called here for a matter of importance just as lunch break began; at first, she had thought it might have something to do with her brother, that one of his taunts or dates had gone too far and landed him in trouble, but for her grandfather, a monster of a mage, to actually be dead was far too unbelievable. "_That's impossible. This is too good to be true…this has to be one of his tricks, I'm sure of it._" She silently thought to herself.

Misinterpreting her silence as grief, the principal nodded in understanding and said "I understand how this would feel for you, so feel free to find a quiet spot and think about the situation. Oh and one more thing; apparently, he made you his sole benefactor."

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise at that, before narrowing with suspicion. "_This is definitely too good to be true…something's off._" Mumbling her thanks to the principal, she left the office and wandered off to a quiet and secluded place in the school grounds, her thoughts awhirl. She did not need this now; White Sakura in particular was becoming increasingly a concern to her. She had learned Bala and Sonido from her during the past few nights, though said learning was more a case of 'doing rather than thinking' due to the instinctive nature of her abilities. But what concerned her was the fact that White Sakura was increasingly similar to her in appearance; while she retained her white hair, alabaster skin, and inhuman eyes, her clothes and accessories were virtually identical to what she was wearing at the time. More concerning was the look of disappointment and frustration in her eyes, and the angry undertone in her voice. Her musings were interrupted by the sound of someone walking towards her from behind. Turning, she was caught off-guard as Shinji slapped her hard with his right hand, sending her sprawling to the ground.

"Don't bother calling for help, neither Emiya nor that upstart delinquent Kurosaki are here." He spat, kicking Sakura in the gut, causing her to cry out in pain. Bending down, he snarled "Listen here, bitch; I know the old man finally kicked the bucket and made you his inheritor. But I don't care about that; what I want you to do is to transfer everything to me." Smiling cruelly, he continued "If you please me, I might even give you a few hand outs."

As Sakura lay unmoving on the ground, silent with apparent contempt and refusal, Shinji raised a fist angrily, spitting out "Answer me, you bitch!" As he swung his fist downwards, he was caught off-guard when Sakura's arm shot out and grabbed him by the neck with an iron grip. Rising to her feet and forcing Shinji to do likewise, Sakura tightened her grip, causing Shinji to say in outrage "I'm your elder brother, you bitch!"

Her lip curling with disgust, Sakura spat out venomously "Brother? You were never my brother. My entire life, all you've done is abuse me, whether physically, verbally, or sexually! I want to kill you very much right now, to settle the score and avenge all those years of abuse…but your rotten blood isn't even worth staining my hands with!" Shinji's face distorted with terror, finally noticing his sister's suddenly golden irises, but before he could say anything in response, Sakura turned and hurled him several feet to slam painfully onto the open lid of a garbage dumpster. As he fell into the dumpster and the lid fell shut behind him, Sakura staggered for a moment, clutching at her head, her face contorted as though with pain, before falling to her knees. "_Just what was that? Was it you, White Sakura? Answer me!_" she shouted in her head, but no response came.

"The first time is always the worst." Ichigo's voice said all of a sudden. Looking up and slowly behind her in horror, she saw him leaning against a corner with a look of understanding on his face. "How long have you been there?" she asked in a low voice.

"I only arrived just now, though I overheard what you said to your brother. And if it's any comfort, I think you made the right choice; garbage like him isn't worth ruining your future for." Ichigo said, walking over to her and offering a hand. After a moment, she took it and was helped to her feet. "Kurosaki-senpai, what…what is happening to me?" she asked with a slight note of despair in her voice.

"We can talk about that in private. Wait for me after school ends, I'll go home with you and Emiya-san and talk about this. Trust me, this isn't something you can take care of on your own." He said in a neutral tone that failed to reassure her, when all of a sudden he smiled and hugging her said "I'll help you, so don't worry; you'll get through this, no matter what." Though caught by surprise, Sakura quickly relaxed and found herself reminiscing of when she was still known as Sakura Tohsaka. "_Alright…alright…I won't worry, because you'll help me…nii-san…_" she thought to herself with a faint smile.

Ichigo however, was troubled with thoughts of his own. "_Her aura just then, there's no doubt about: she's undergoing Hollowfication. Worse, at that point, it was reminiscent of my own power…but why?_"

* * *

"Sakura-san, have you seen Emiya-san?" Ichigo asked Sakura as she waited while standing by the school gates later that afternoon.

"I don't know. He may have something to attend to, but I told him that you wanted to talk to him and me about something important, so he agreed to take you home with us." She answered with an apologetic tone. Waving it off, Ichigo began to respond when he felt a surge of power through the air. Sakura felt it too, but hid any sign of it with the ease of long practice.

"Sakura, stay there; I'm just going to get something that I forgot upstairs." Ichigo said as he ran off. "_Rider, keep an eye on Sakura!_" he silently ordered his Servant. "_But Ichigo, without that mod soul, you won't be…_" she began to protest when Ichigo interrupted "_It's fine; I have my badge with me, so I'll be alright._" After a silent moment, Rider responded "_I understand, Ichigo._"

"Kurosaki-senpai!" Sakura shouted after Ichigo, but stayed where she was. "_Could it be that nii-san is a mage too…maybe he's a Master too…is he just using me…no, nii-san won't do that…I know he won't…_" she thought to herself as she gazed after Ichigo.

* * *

"Emiya-kun, this is your last chance: surrender your Command Spells." Rin said imperiously as she pointed a finger at Shiro with her crest glowing with power. "I refuse; there's no way in hell that I'd do that and betray Saber!" Shiro shot back, holding the reinforced iron rod he was using as an improvised weapon.

After a moment, Rin smiled and said "In that case, sorry about this, Emiya-kun, but you leave me with no choice. Forgive me if I overdo this and accidentally leave you a vegetable." But even as black energy began to build at her fingertip, a crushing pressure, as though the very air itself had turned partly solid descended on them both; Rin's crest flickered weakly then died in moments, the energy at her fingertip disappearing into thin air.

"Hey now, fighting at a place like this, don't you think you're going too far, Tohsaka-san?" said a voice, which she quickly recognized with irritation: "_Kurosaki._" Sure enough, Ichigo soon appeared, apparently unfazed by all the pressure in the air (probably because he was its source) as he walked past Shiro stopped a short distance from her. Reigning in his spiritual pressure, he looked at both Rin and Shiro before saying "What say the two of you that we just all turn around and get on with our lives from here?" Rin snorted before replying with an angry undercurrent "It's not like you're giving us much choice, are you, Shinigami?"

Shrugging, Ichigo looked at Rin and said "Not really, no."

"Well, I'm all for it." Shiro said, dropping his weapon onto the floor. Nodding, Ichigo said "Good, let's go then Emiya-san. Sakura-san's waiting for us." Ichigo turned, ignoring the fuming Rin as Shiro fell into stride beside him.

"You wanted to talk about something, Kurosaki-san?" Shiro asked as they walked down the stairs. "Let's wait until we can talk someplace else where less people can overhear us." Ichigo grunted in response.

Rin watched from a window as Shiro and Ichigo crossed the school yard and joined up with Sakura at the school gates; as the three began to walk away from the school, Rin fought to handle several emotions evoked by the sight of her estranged sister. "_Father made his decision, and there was nothing I could do. As the heiress of the Tohsaka Clan and the Supervisor of Fuyuki City, I have no choice but to uphold his decision and to turn a blind eye to Matou's wrongdoings._"

To her irritation, an image of Ichigo suddenly appeared in her head and said to her "_You'd let your own flesh and blood suffer and be alone for the sake of your precious duty and tradition? What a fine sister, no, what a fine Human being you are, aren't you?_"

Supressing the heart-breaking pang of guilt his words invoked, she thought back "_Shut up Shinigami! Even if you are a god, you have no right to judge me or my family's decision. Too much has been sacrificed for this…_" Her thoughts faltered as she realized that her reflex reaction would just aggravate her conscience even further. So she settled back on how she had handled such thoughts for a decade: with a mask of indifference…only to have that mask shattered as Ichigo's image turned its back on her and her conscience taunted her with his voice "_How different are you really from the Matou?_"

* * *

"Please tell me what's going on with me, Kurosaki-senpai!" Sakura asked Ichigo over the dining table in Shiro's dining room. "Simple; you're undergoing Hollowfication." Ichigo replied.

"Hollowfication?" Shiro asked in surprise. "What's that?"

"Hollowfication is simply the process wherein a soul loses itself to its inner darkness. Normally this only happens to dead souls, but by means of an external influence, it can happen to even living souls or even to Shinigami. I would know…because I know people like the latter, and I'm one of the former as a result of my obtaining Shinigami powers." Ichigo explained grimly.

"Lose…inner darkness…" Sakura stammered, her face betraying her fear at the thought as she finally understood what White Sakura was. To her surprise, Shiro pulled her in close and kissed her reassuringly on the forehead. "Don't worry Sakura. I'm sure Kurosaki-san knows how to deal with this." He told her before looking at Ichigo and asking "Don't you?"

"There's only one way a living soul or a Shinigami can avoid losing themselves, and that's to confront and subdue the Inner Hollow. I can help, but ultimately, you'll have to do this alone, Sakura-san." Ichigo replied even grimmer than before.

"What I don't understand is, why?" Saber asked. "What kind of external influence could do this to Sakura?" she finished. "I believe I may have the answer to that." Rider answered as she materialized beside him.

"Rider!" said Ichigo in surprise. "I'm sorry Ichigo; I know you didn't want to involve Sakura as she isn't a Master, but this concerns her as well." She told him before turning to Sakura. "You were originally supposed to be my Master, weren't you, Sakura?

After a tense moment, Sakura nodded and said "Yes. I was Matou's Master…but the summoning ritual failed and I lost my Command Spells, apparently to you, Kurosaki-senpai."

"I see so that's how it is." Ichigo said, crossing his arms thoughtfully. Looking at Ichigo, Rider asked "When we first met, you were wearing that demonic mask; I assume that's when you're drawing on your Inner Hollow, aren't you?"

"That's right; and when my power overpowered her power, it absorbed part of my Hollow power and created her Inner Hollow." Ichigo answered and brought the argument full circle; closing his eyes, Ichigo though deeply about what to do next.

"Senpai, I'm sorry I didn't tell even though I could have caused you trouble while living here, but I…" Sakura began to apologize to Shiro but he put a finger to her lips and said "You don't need to apologize Sakura; I understand your situation, so it's alright."

"Senpai…thank you…" she said softly and smiled for the first time the discussion began. "Right, let's do this." Ichigo said all of a sudden, startling everyone at the table with the exception of the Servants. "Since I got you into this mess, I'll help you get out of it as well, Sakura-san."

* * *

"Kurosaki-san, will this really work?" Shiro asked with concern evident in his voice. They were gathered on one side of the training hall, with Sakura sitting alone in the centre of the hall. "By myself, I would say I don't know. But those two told me that this would work, but only if Sakura is strong enough." Ichigo replied

"Those two?" Shiro asked again in surprise. Nodding, Ichigo answered "My sword's spirit, Zangetsu, and my Inner Hollow."

"Perhaps this isn't such a good idea after all…" began Saber but Ichigo shook his head and said "She has to subdue it; if not now then later. But she must, or risk becoming a mindless monster."

"Don't worry senpai, Saber-san. I can do this." Sakura said with a faint smile from where she was sitting. After a moment, Shiro smiled back and said "Alright then Sakura, I'll leave it to you. Just let me give you a piece of advice: believe in yourself. Otherwise, no matter what you do, you won't win."

Nodding, Ichigo pulled out his badge and told Rider "Take care of my body, Rider." He slammed the badge against his chest, emerging from his keeling body in Shinigami form. "Are you ready, Sakura-san?" He asked.

"Yes, I'm ready." She replied, closing her eyes. "_Compared to everything I've been through, this is probably nothing._" She thought to herself.

In response, Ichigo released his spiritual pressure, supressing Sakura sense of self; Sakura felt as though she were falling…and in an instant found herself in her inner world. The river ran on, and the fogs were still there, but the lanterns had gone, as had the larger rocks.

"So, the time has finally come, Queen." White Sakura said, emerging from the fogs some distance away. Like Sakura, she wore a school uniform, though her usual smile was gone…as was the look of disappointment and frustration in her eyes; instead there was uncertainty. "Are you prepared, Queen?" she asked, walking forwards slowly. As she walked forwards, a light breeze picked up around her, as she released her own power.

"_Am I afraid? Afraid of losing to her and becoming a monster; NO! I must not fear!_" Sakura thought angrily to herself…only for White Sakura to angrily shout "DON'T YOU GET IT YET!" Without even bothering to use Sonido, White Sakura charged forwards with a roar of anger, her right hand positioned as though to stab through a person…and with Hierro, that wasn't as impossible as it might sound. As she charged, Sakura took up an instinctively defensive stance, ready to defend herself, remembering what Ichigo had told her about damage taken here being reflected in reality. As the gap between the two closed, she suddenly noticed: White Sakura's eyes weren't uncertain anymore. They weren't angry, disappointed, or frustrated either. They were sad…and instinctively, she remembered what she had told her when they first met: "_I am the side of yourself you have never known._"

As she remembered, Sakura smiled in understanding and dropped her guard…allowing White Sakura to stab her through the chest, her hand and part of her forearm emerging from Sakura's back in a spray of blood.

* * *

"Sakura!" shouted Shiro in horror, but was paralyzed as Ichigo shouted "WAIT, IT ISN'T OVER YET!"

* * *

"It's over, Queen." White Sakura said darkly, but was caught by surprise when Sakura suddenly grabbed her arm…and causing her to change in appearance as Sakura poured her power into her. "Yes, you finally understand; all you had to do was to accept me. For you could never have subdued me, since I am only you."

Sakura looked at the woman right in front of her, looking what she should have looked like had fate been kinder. "Why are you crying?" she asked, noting the tears starting to flow from her alter-ego's eyes. Looking at her with only sadness in her blue eyes, she answered "Because, now that you have accepted me, you will have everything I have, not just my power, but everything that you supressed for all these years. And soon, you will have to make that choice."

"What choice?" Sakura asked. The woman once known as White Sakura simply smiled sadly and placed her other hand on Sakura's cheek, and answered "You will know soon enough…but remember, you are only who and what you choose to be."

Looking into those blue eyes, Sakura sighed sadly before placing her own hand on her alter-ego's hand on her cheek. "Goodbye, my other self."

"Goodbye."

* * *

A burst of purple energy flared outwards as the bloody wound on Sakura's chest healed itself shut. "High-speed regeneration?" Ichigo noted with slight surprise…but was even more surprised as Sakura's blue hair turned black even as the energy flared away. As she rose to her feet and staggered, Ichigo reigned in his spiritual pressure, allowing Shiro to run forward with a shout of "Sakura!"

Catching her before she fell to the floor, Shiro held Sakura close; opening her eyes wearily, she asked him softly "Senpai?"

"It's alright Sakura. You're safe now." He told her reassuringly. Smiling wearily in response, she turned her head and looked at Ichigo, who had a neutral expression on his face. "Kurosaki-senpai?"

After a pause, Ichigo smiled and said "Good work, Sakura."

"Thank you…" she said wearily as she fell asleep in Shiro's arms.

* * *

Well, this was a long one chapter. Now then, onto notes; Shinji's still a jerk, but he ends up where he belongs, in the trash so yeah. Sakura 'subduing' White Sakura is more of acknowledging her supressed side, but that won't come into play until later on. And yes, I am aware that it looks like how Ichigo obtained the Final Getsuga Tensho, because that's where I based it on, though unlike Ichigo Sakura's never going to lose her powers.

Oh that's right, Sakura now looks like Rin with her black hair and blue eyes, which is actually what she should look like given that she is Rin's sister. I wonder how Rin's going to take that…

And one more thing: regarding Akasha, or as I called it here the 'origin of all things', I have to apologize for using the characters to express my belief that there is no such thing as pre-determined fate, which is basically what Akasha is in canon Nasuverse: a pre-determined set of definitions for everything in existence. Here, the Soul Society knows that reaching it is meaningless. Even the Magicians who claim to have reached it but never entered it to obtain their magic never really accessed it (while those who were supposed to have disappeared after entering just got pulled into a black hole and were actually destroyed): they just unlocked the power of their souls in a similar manner to Orihime. Though it's never going to be addressed in the story, in this AU, Orihime actually has the Sixth Magic: Rejection of All Things. So in the end, the Mages Association is wasting its time and resources for a goal that will ultimately have no meaning.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, names, and any copyrighted material used in this work. This is a fanfic, period. Everything belongs to their respective owners. Comments and constructive criticism are all very much appreciated.

Chapter 8: Revelations

Ichigo sat on the veranda overlooking the Emiya Household's garden in his Shinigami form, darkly considering the situation while waiting for Rider to come back, having sent her to take his body back to their apartment and have Kon handle it. Sighing, he closed his eyes in reality and opened them in his inner world, where as usual he found himself standing on one of the skyscrapers of the infinite city.

"What's wrong, Ichigo?" Zangetsu's voice asked from behind him. Turning, Ichigo saw Zangetsu casually walking towards him. "Zangetsu…" Ichigo began. "...how did Sakura subdue her Inner Hollow so easily? That was too easy, something's definitely not right about it!"

"What an interesting question, Ichigo." Zangetsu replied, stopping a short distance from Ichigo. "Tell me, do you know what I am?"

"Of course, you're a Zanpakutou spirit." Ichigo answered, somewhat confused by Zangetsu's response. Nodding, Zangetsu asked another question "And does Sakura have a Zanpakutou spirit of her own?"

"Well no, she doesn't, but what does that have to do with anything?" Ichigo responded, exasperated at the way the conversation had taken a turn for. "You don't get it do you, King?" said Hollow Ichigo with a mocking tone all of a sudden. Whirling, Ichigo saw his Inner Hollow smirking as he sat cross-legged some distance behind him. "You have Zangetsu, and you have me; that's all there is to it."

After a moment, a look of dawning comprehension finally began to appear on Ichigo's face. Closing his eyes briefly, Zangetsu said "Sakura's battle isn't over; she has yet to overcome herself. That will decide whether or not she will become a monster. And that battle is something she alone can fight."

Opening his eyes back in reality, Ichigo glanced to the side and saw Saber looking at him with a concerned expression on her face. "Am I disturbing, Shinigami?" she asked. Ichigo shook his and looked back to the garden before replying "Not really; and don't call me that. It's not Shinigami; either Ichigo or Kurosaki will do."

"In that case, Ichigo, may I sit next to you?" she asked politely; after received a grunt in response she sat down beside him. After a few moments, Ichigo asked "Was there something on your mind that you wanted to discuss, Saber?"

"Yes." She replied after a short pause. "It's about Sakura, isn't it?" Ichigo asked in response, and Saber silently nodded an affirmation. "My instincts tell me that Sakura's struggle to overcome her inner darkness isn't over yet; what happened earlier seemed almost too easy."

Sighing, Ichigo said "It doesn't seem too easy. Nor was it too easy either. It just isn't over yet. Not really."

* * *

Shiro silently opened and closed the door to Sakura's room, having made sure the sleeping girl was comfortable. Hearing Ichigo and Saber's voices in conversation, he made his way towards the veranda but stopped short of actually joining them when he heard Sakura's name being mentioned.

"From what I understand, the primary reason is because Sakura's a Human." Ichigo was saying. "When a Shinigami Hollowfies, all their primal emotions and instincts fuse together into a single being; after all, that's what a Hollow basically is: a soul consumed by its primal emotions and instincts such that it loses its sense of self. To control that, those of us who undergo Hollowfication must confront and subdue the Inner Hollow; if we fail, we become mindless monsters. If we succeed, we gain control over our Hollow power and can use it to augment our Shinigami power. We can even use abilities that normally could only be used by Hollows. For instance…" At that Ichigo turned and looked at Saber before asking "Do you remember when I fought Berserker and fired an energy blast at him?" When Saber nodded in response, Ichigo looked back to the garden and said "That was a Cero; an ability usually usable only by the more powerful Hollows, but us Visored – Shinigami who have mastered Hollowfication – can use it as well."

"But in Sakura's case it's different. You see, the swords of us Shinigami – the Zanpakutou – have the unique property that they are actually the embodiments of our soul. As a result, they each have a spirit of their own that actually reflects our inner self, and is both separate and part of us at the same time. When Sakura underwent Hollowfication, since she was a Human, her inner self which she had always been unaware of until now was forcibly awakened and became one with her Inner Hollow."

"So, what will happen now?" Saber asked, uncomprehending. Ichigo looked at her and said "Sakura's battle isn't over; she didn't subdue her Inner Hollow, she became one with it. In so doing she accepted not just her powers, but also everything she must have been holding back and supressing all this time. While she won't become a mindless monster, whether or not she becomes a monster in Human form is now up to her and her alone."

"Are you going to tell Shiro?" Saber asked in response, but was surprised when Ichigo shrugged and said "I don't need to…but still, you know eavesdropping is a bad habit." Ichigo looked back to the garden as he sensed a familiar presence; within moments, Rider arrived, her long purple hair falling around her as she dropped, catlike on the ground. Standing up, Ichigo greeted her with a nod as he walked to join her. Turning back to Saber on the veranda, now joined by Shiro, Ichigo said "Right, we're off. Watch out, Saber, Emiya-san; even I don't know for sure how Sakura will act once she wakes up." After saying this, Ichigo jumped into the air and ran off, followed by his Servant.

"Shiro…" Saber asked, looking at him with a look of concern on her face. Shiro looked contemplative for a moment, before turning away, saying to himself "A monster…if that happens, what should I do?"

* * *

"Rider…" Ichigo said, causing Rider to look at him. The two of them were standing on one of Fuyuki's higher skyscrapers, looking down over the whole city. "We're splitting up tonight; you patrol the city, and stop anyone attacking Humans. Avoid fighting other Servants unless absolutely necessary."

"What about you?" she asked. "I need to go to the Matou Manor." Ichigo replied grimly. "The Matou Manor…but why?" Rider responded in surprise.

After a short pause, Ichigo replied "I need to check on a few things."

* * *

Ichigo slowly pushed the front door open and walked into the Matou Manor. Something was simply wrong with the place; he could sense the lingering presence of Shinigami from the Twelfth Division from when they swept the place, but it was tinged with a sense of urgency, of fear, fear of something unholy in this place. Ichigo wasn't happy; Sakura's high-speed regeneration had changed the colour of her eyes and hair, indicating their violet colour had been damage of some sort…damage that could not and was not healed by normal regeneration. Even worse, she now looked like Rin Tohsaka, and Ichigo was not one to dismiss it as mere coincidence. Sosuke Aizen had taught him that much.

Sighing, Ichigo reached up and summoned his mask, intending to use his Hollowfication to sharpen his senses and find the source of this wrongness. Quickly filtering out the superficial ones (and more than a little perturbed to discover the whole place reeked of evil) – not even Las Noches was this steeped in darkness – he perceived two areas so…putrid, that he could find his way to them with his enhanced sensing alone. Choosing the less putrid of the two, Ichigo climbed the staircase, and cautiously made his way towards a certain bedroom.

As he placed a hand on the doorknob and prepared to open the door, Hollow Ichigo spoke up. "_You sure you want to do this, King? I mean, with me you should be able to 'see' what happened here, but are you sure you want to? You might not like what it really is._"

"_Oh really; I'm surprised you even care._" Ichigo snorted in response.

"_Don't misunderstand, King. Thing is, there's barely enough room in your head for me, you, and the old man. A fourth and insane personality would just cause trouble. So let me ask you again: are you really sure you want to do this?_"

Ichigo smirked before silently replying "_Thanks for the concern, but I'm good. You of all people should know that best._"

After a short silence, Hollow Ichigo silently cackled and said "_Hell yeah, King! Let's do this! Just don't regret this afterwards!_" Smiling at that, Ichigo turned the doorknob and opened the door…only to be sent reeling at the torrential flood that swamped his spiritual sense.

Clutching his head, Ichigo staggered into the room like a drunken man, struggling to make sense of what he was sensing. "_Ichigo!_" called Zangetsu. "_Don't fight it! Don't try to understand, just accept it! Otherwise, your mind will be crushed by the torrent; against such pure emotion, rationality is meaningless. If you were just a Shinigami, you would have been driven insane already. But you are not just a Shinigami, you are also a Hollow, and pure emotion is something a Hollow can weather. Do it, Ichigo! If you can accept this, you will see it all: the truth behind this darkness._"

Roaring in defiance, Ichigo allowed everything in the room to flow into him…and he saw it all in an instant of perfect clarity as the storm of sensation vanished as though it never was. Ichigo's black and gold eyes widened in horror as he perceived what had happened. Horror turned to anger quickly, vapour-like spiritual power leaking from his snarling mouth as he growled in a very Hollow-like fashion.

"Who's there?" said a voice, clearly trying and failing to hide a note of fear. Ichigo whirled; he knew that voice. Sure enough, Shinji soon appeared around the door frame and with a terrified expression on his face, clutching a baseball bat. Ichigo's eyes narrowed dangerously, and turning, walked towards the door with deliberate calmness. "Out of the way." He spat as he walked past Shinji, swatting him away with one, sharp blow. Shinji was sent flying down the hallway to slam painfully onto a wall, and with whimper of pain, slumped to the floor; Ichigo's blow had broken several ribs. Ichigo turned and moved to walk away, intending to explore the other source of wrongness in this house, when a thought came to him. Looking back at Shinji, who was clambering to his feet and whimpering in fear and terror, he came to a decision…and in an instant, he was in front of him, and grabbing the surprised Shinji by the throat, slammed him back to the wall.

* * *

Elsewhere, Rider fought skeleton warriors scouring a residential complex, assaulting Humans and draining them. Like an acrobat, she tore through them with her limbs, chain, and stakes flashing through the air in an elegant and beautiful dance of death. As the last of the warriors crumbled to dust at her feet, she sensed her Master's current state. "_Ichigo…_" she thought to herself. "_What has angered you so? What dark retribution shall you deliver to your foe? I pray that you calm yourself, my Master, lest you stray from your just path, oh great god of death._"

* * *

"Shinji Matou, you bastard, who the hell is Sakura Matou? There is no way in hell that she can be your sister! Answer me, or I'll crush your throat!" Ichigo snarled.

Struggling and failing to remove Ichigo's invisible neck lock, Shinji smirked before replying "You won't kill me. Otherwise, you wouldn't get what you want from me."

"Perhaps you're not as much of an idiot as I thought you were." Ichigo conceded. "Fine; I'll kill you, then drag your pitiful soul to the Seireitei and get what I want in a Second Division interrogation room. I'm sure Captain Sui-Feng and her…interrogators would love some practice."

Eyes widening in terror even as Ichigo tightened his grip, Shinji finally broke. "W-wait, I'll talk!" Loosening his grip, Shinji took a few gasping breaths before answering Ichigo's earlier question. "Sakura is my adopted sister; before she was adopted, she was Sakura Tohsaka, the younger sister of Rin Tohsaka."

"Why? Why was she adopted? Why did the Tohsaka throw her away?"

"It was decided that only Rin would be taught Magecraft. Sakura was given to us since she would have had no future among them." Even as he said this, Shinji began to smile, insanity lighting up his eyes. "Grandfather…he threw her into the pit, infesting her with his Crest Worms. They gave her the ability to use Matou Magecraft, but also frustrated her sexually. So I 'helped her' with that."

"Is that so now?" Ichigo responded in a dangerously soft and sing-song tone. "Then allow me to bill you for that." And without another word, he drew back his arm and threw the terrified rapist through the wall.

"I-I can't feel my legs…someone…someone help…" Shinji stammered from the floor where he lay at an odd angle amongst the rubble, his eyes glazing over. Finally, he began to convulse as he went into shock. Outside the room, Ichigo whispered in disgust "Animal…" Turning, he walked back to the staircase, and flashed down to the ground floor. Moving a hand over his mask and smoothing over the cracks, Ichigo knelt and smashed a hole through the floor with a fist. Ignoring the dark premonitions as he stared into that makeshift entrance to the hellish lower levels of this den of evil, he leapt down, through the hole, into the basement. Nothing was there; Ichigo could sense the lingering presence of Twelfth Division Shinigami from when they swept the place, but that wasn't what Ichigo was interested in. "_What is this I feel? My chest…it hurts. Is it fear? Am I afraid of knowing what happened in this place? No, it's not fear. It's anger. It's outrage about what happened in this place of pure evil._"

Once again, Ichigo opened himself up, closing his eyes and letting the pain, the anger, and the hatred of all that had suffered and died in this place flow into him. They tore at him, seeking to consume him, but he refused to let it happen. He stood as though in the middle of a storm, a storm of screams and cries only he could hear, absorbing everything that had happened here…and as he did so, his anger cooled, turning to an ice-like shard of resolve. Finally, he opened his eyes, the storm vanishing at once. Removing his mask, Ichigo looked around the place, eerily reminded of a medieval dungeon, before sighing wearily. "No. This cannot be forgiven; this cannot and must not be allowed to happen again. I am a Shinigami, and so I swear on my soul, that you shall have your justice." Drawing Zangetsu and flaring his power, he said "Rest now, this insanity will end soon." With that he swung Zangetsu, his power banishing the evil in the house for good. Finally, as he sheathed his sword, Ichigo felt none of the wrongness that he had felt since he had come there. Jumping back up, Ichigo walked to the front door and without looking back, sighed and left the Matou Manor for good with a look of resolve on his face.

* * *

As she stood on a skyscraper overlooking the city, Rider mulled over her thoughts. "_Ichigo…I finally understand why you were chosen to be my Master. It's not simply because of the coincidence that you released your power at the same time as Sakura was summoning me. Nor was it out of our shared feelings to our respective families. It's because you and I are similar beings, like to like, that you were chosen to be my Master. You are a Shinigami, a god who rules over death, yet you can call upon the darkness in the depths of your soul. I was born out of men's desire of an ideal goddess, but was twisted by their changing thoughts and the jealousy of the flawed into a monster. We are alike, you and I, the perfect purity of a god tempered by the dark fire of a demon. Light…and darkness…_"

* * *

The following morning saw Ichigo running over the skyline of Fuyuki City, racing against time to a place within the forests on the outskirts. "Damn it…" Ichigo growled, summoning his mask to increase his speed.

_Begin Flashback_

"_Ichigo, what's wrong? You've been silently worked up since we came back here." Rider asked with concern evident in her voice. "What did you see in the Matou Manor?"_

"_In one word: hell. This is it Rider…once the Soul Society finds out about this, the mages here in Japan will find the scrutiny of the Soul Society aimed at them. And it won't be end well." Ichigo replied as he sat on the couch._

"_What's the worst that could happen?" Rider asked after a short pause. After another pause, Ichigo replied "War. Plain and simple…"_

_Looking at the weary yet resolute look on Ichigo's face, Rider sighed, smiled, then sitting down next to him put an arm around his shoulders and told the surprised man "Don't worry. I'm sure things will work out somehow. Maybe it's because I'm your Servant, but somehow, I just know you'll get through this."_

_Smiling back, Ichigo nodded and said "That's true. And in any case, you're an ally, and the Soul Society takes care of its friends…" Ichigo suddenly stopped as a look of alarm came over his face. "Ichigo, what's wrong?" Rider asked in sudden concern._

"_Damn it, Illya-chan's in trouble!"Ichigo said, pulling out his badge and slamming it into his chest. As he charged out of the window in his Shinigami form, he ordered Rider "I'll go on ahead; catch up with me as soon as you can, Rider!"_

_End Flashback_

* * *

The entrance hall of Castle von Einzbern was largely reduced to rubble, with Berserker desperately fighting for his life against a hail of golden projectiles. Standing near the entrance, a blonde-haired, red-eyed man in golden armour and noble bearing stood smirking as he tore away the giant's store of lives. Finally, he bound Berserker with the Chains of Heaven, and finished him off by personally throwing a drill-shaped sword through the giant's chest. As Berserker vanished into glittering sparkles of light, Illyasiel von Einzbern stepped out of the closet she was hiding in.

"Berserker?" she whispered, her eyes tearing. "No…No! Berserker!" she screamed, falling to her knees with tears streaming down her cheeks. Still smiling, Gilgamesh began to walk forward, when suddenly he heard a voice shout "Getsuga Tensho!" A silver arc of light split the entrance hall in an instant, leaving a deep trench in the ground with morning light spilling into it from a corresponding line of destruction in the ceiling. In a moment, Ichigo had appeared on the opposite side of the trench from Gilgamesh, Zangetsu pointing at him.

"What fool dares…" Gilgamesh began when Kirei Kotomine cut in from behind him. "Wait, Gilgamesh. This is the Shinigami I told you of; the one who became a Master."

Suddenly, Gilgamesh's outrage turned to curiosity. "Is he now? Interesting; a god that exists in this time and age and became a Master…" Ichigo said nothing, fixing Gilgamesh resolutely with his eyes, ready to use his Bankai on a moment's notice.

After a tense moment with only a catatonic and uncomprehending Illya's sobs being heard, Kirei chuckled and said "Let's go Gilgamesh, we're withdrawing."

"Huh, what're you saying, you twisted priest? Don't we need the puppet…" Gilgamesh began when Kirei interrupted. "No, we don't need her anymore. Her fallen Servant's power has not entered her; apparently, the Holy Grail has chosen someone else to serve as its vessel. Let us concede the girl to the god of death and proceed to look elsewhere for the vessel." With that said, Kirei turned and walked out of the castle. After a moment, Gilgamesh said to Ichigo "Well, alright. I'll suffer your impudence for now, if only because you are not just another commoner. Farewell, Shinigami, I wonder if you can amuse me before this little game of the mongrel commoners ends." At that, Gilgamesh smirked and faded away. After a moment, Ichigo sighed and sheathed Zangetsu before kneeling down beside Illya.

"Illya-chan, are alright? Illya-chan!" After getting no response, Ichigo grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her until a measure of sense came back to her eyes. "Ichigo nii-san?" she asked. Suddenly, she shook and began to cry again. "Berserker…Berserker is gone…" she sobbed. As Rider arrived and dropped behind him, Ichigo pulled Illya close and let her cry her heart out. "It's alright…you're safe now. I won't let anyone hurt you." Ichigo said in a soothing fashion.

* * *

"Are you alright, Rin?" Archer said, kneeling beside his Master as she shivered on her knees; she was just preparing to leave for school when she had fallen to her knees as though struck shortly before vomiting her stomach out.

"What…what just happened?" she stammered out; back then, for a moment, it was as though her blood had turned into fire for an instant. This was not something she had trained for or knew of, and her instincts told her that something had gone terribly wrong.

* * *

Sorry for the time it took to update, but I had a lot of trouble with this chapter, being preoccupied with a few other things. Anyway, onto notes; some of you people might be asking how Ichigo could just 'see' what happened in Matou's hellish domain. Therefore, I ask that you go back to the battle between Ichigo and Gin Ichimaru during the False Karakura Town Arc, where you might remember Ichigo telling Gin that while he (Ichigo) can't read minds, he can however see how a person thinks by simply crossing swords with them. Here, that ability is combined with his refined spiritual sensing, not to mention a Hollow's ability to gauge spiritual power (the Arrancar call it pesquisa). Note that Ichigo didn't literally see all that happened; he just knows the nature of every evil committed within the Matou Manor.

As to why Illya's nature as the Holy Grail's vessel was sabotaged (and how Ichigo could sense Illya was in danger), did you forget Ichigo gave her his charm? She is now linked to Ichigo in a spiritual sense, allowing Ichigo's spiritual pressure to subconsciously override the Holy Grail's link to her (a superior force will naturally override a weaker force). She will die in a year's time though, if left untreated, but that's what we have Urahara for, so yeah…

Oh, and regarding Sakura, did you really think I'd let it end so easily? I find your lack of faith disturbing…

Additional Note: Rin becoming the new vessel...will be explained by Kirei in a couple of chapters. I have...sinister plans for her.


	9. On Hiatus

Sorry 'bout this, but I'm placing the story under hiatus in light of recent developments in Bleach. I'll continue/re-write it after the dust settles (seriously, with so many retcons and revelations recently it's a brave new world out there). Bye!


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